Hate and Love
by MaliciousContent
Summary: A gem meets a human whose life is going perfectly well besides a horrific accident. She ruins his life in every way possible, but can the two make ends meet and get along?
1. Introductions

"Are they going to be okay?" a small boy who couldn't have been more than six asked a doctor.

"We are doing what we can son, it was a very serious accident," all of a sudden, nurses rushed down the hall and the doctor turned to run after them.

The boy was left in the hall without a real answer, as he wondered why he couldn't get one. He had been at the hospital for a few days, but never had a chance to be alone and breathe. His arm had had an infection since the other day, but it didn't seem to bother him so much as not seeing his mom and dad for a few days. Slowly walking through the empty halls, the boy eventually came to the place where his parents were.

As the seizing bodies stopped their movements, the boy watched the doctor's face become solemn, "Time of death, 5:38 PM."

The blond-haired boy collapsed on the floor in shock, his parents had left him forever. Nurses surrounded him but he paid no mind as he was lifted onto a bed and taken to a room with a mask over his nose and mouth. He simply drifted off to sleep free of all worries and troubles.

* * *

"Is he going to be okay? I mean a six-year-old with no parents or most of his arm…" the boy had started to come into consciousness, his vision clearing.

"What… happened…" the boy groaned, "Oh, my forearm… It's gone."

"Yes, we had to amputate it. Your arm had an infection that was about to spread to the rest of your arm," the doctor paused, "We only removed it past your elbow in order to save what we could."

"Am I going to be okay?" the boy asked quietly, the thought of his parents seeping into his brain.

"You will be okay after you go to physical therapy for a few months, maybe years," the doctor tried to smile, but it faded, "Your parents passed away last night, but I think you already know that. Do you remember what happened to cause the car crash?"

"It wasn't a car crash… some strange people attacked us and destroyed the car," the boy paused, shakily remembering the events, "They killed Mommy and Daddy…"

"I am sure that all of that is true, but do you remember anything about a car crash?" the doctor asked firmly.

"It really wasn't a car crash, I won't lie… Where am I going to go?" the boy asked.

"You are going to your uncle's farm in Georgia. It's pretty far from here, but we think it's best for you to escape this environment," the doctor paused, putting a thermometer in the boy's mouth, "Your uncle will be here tomorrow morning to pick you up."

The doctor took the thermometer out of the boy's mouth, "Well, you have a nice temperature, Luca. You need to get more rest though."

* * *

"Hey Peridot, did you ever want to be something more than a technician?" a tall tan girl asked the light green girl who sat next to her, "It's hard to imagine that gems don't always want to do what they were made to do and that they will get punished for just being different."

"Yes it certainly is," the girl replied, looking to the thoughtful gem, "We are only gems who live to serve Yellow Diamond. Amber, I would hate to lose you, you are a perfect cut."

"True, same goes to you. Sometimes I just like to wonder if things were different what we would do," Amber paused, narrowing her eyes, "Oh look, it's a Vex getting tormented by its partners. Want to go check it out?"

"Not really, they are already lesser gems than us. Looks like that one recently made a mistake, its hair is already gray," Peridot loved to make speculations and judgments on others especially among comrades, "Oh I am being called, see you later!"

As her ally left, Amber began to turn more robotic and waited for her communicator to go off. She had lived for thousands of years like this, only interacting with peridots to look more superior to other Ambers but only one Peridot could really maintain a partial conversation with her. When her communicator went off, Amber walked off to meet Her Royal Highness, Yellow Diamond.

"Hello, my Diamond, what would you like for me to do today?" the tan gem knelt so as to be humble to her leader.

"I would like for you to make a device for controlling my subjects. Make it as controllable for other technicians to use as possible," Yellow Diamond knew that some of her subjects needed to be silenced and that this gem was particularly good at building things.

"Yes, my Diamond," Amber stood and walked out of the room as formally as she could.

The gem hurriedly made a collar-like device that hurt anything that felt more than a set limit of emotions. When she delivered the prototype to Yellow Diamond, she was the talk of the gems around her even though most of them were now soulless and cold on the inside. Years later Peridot was assigned a mission on Earth and defied Yellow Diamond, later, Amber noticed gems being sent to retrieve fugitives like her. The gem thought that she would never be sent to go retrieve the three, but the day came when she was ordered to retrieve Peridot, Jasper, and the Vex.

* * *

"Hello Luca, we are going to fly over to Emory, Georgia. Our flight is at nine," the uncle was cheery, he was doing it for his nephew even though losing his sister hurt him more than enough, "How are you doing?"

"I am doing good…" Luca paused, "Mommy and Daddy died…"

"I know, that is why you are coming with me to Georgia. I own a large farm that you can play all day on and make new friends," the uncle paused, "You are a city boy and meeting new farm kids might be hard, but I am sure you can do it!"

The boy nodded, "What time is it?"

"It's seven thirty, we have to leave soon," the uncle smiled.

Thirty minutes later, Luca and his uncle got on an eastbound airplane. The blond-haired boy thought about his parents, they grew up in Emory and were about to be buried there. It must have been a special place to them. He leaned back into his seat; his uncle was already asleep so Luca had no one to talk to about how he felt. When the plane landed, Luca was fast asleep.

"Hey Luca, we are here!" the uncle was cheerful, "Time to wake yourself up so we can check out your new home."

Luca rubbed his eyes and stretched, "Okay."

"Tomorrow is the day that we bury your mom and dad," the uncle paused, "They were great parents."

"Yeah…" Luca frowned silently, but made it into a smile when his uncle looked over to him.

They got into a car, it was fall and the trees were losing all of their leaves. Orange, yellow, and brown hues littered the ground as the uncle drove farther and farther into the countryside. The sun was setting as the uncle parked the car on a dirt driveway. Luca followed him into the main house, carrying a small bag of his belongings to his bedroom. It was fairly big, containing a large window with a sill, a deep blue bed, new clothes that were more suited for the countryside in a large closet, and a medium-sized bookshelf. The boy loved his new room, but guilt rose from the loss of his parents as he lay in his soft bed.

When he woke up, his uncle had already made a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. Luca ate small portions, not able to finish the remainder due to a sore stomach and phantom pain in his arm. He was nervous and constantly feeling guilty as he struggled to put on a black suit. His left arm stung invisibly, but to stave off the phantom pain, he looked away. It worked for a short while, but at times he just couldn't help looking at the bandages that covered the scars. His uncle never treated him like he was missing an arm, which made him thankful that he could do his own thing. As they drove to the church, Luca started to get sick after staring at his invisible arm after a while, but calmed himself down.

His uncle parked the car and opened the door for his nephew, "Here you go, let's go see your parents."

"Alright," Luca said, hopping out.

The two walked into the church, people who Luca didn't know waved and hugged him. He felt loved and continued to walk to the front row. The boy walked to the open caskets and touched his parents one last time. They looked peaceful, lying in beds of flowers. Flashbacks rushed in as Luca tried to fight them, but in the end, he accepted them and walked back to his seat next to his uncle. The service continued on for an hour and when it ended, the caskets were buried underground on top of each other. Luca said goodbye and walked back to his uncle's car, holding his new caretaker's hand. Therapy was tomorrow so Luca had a day to get adjusted to life, but had something to fall back on.

Within years of therapy, the blond-haired boy got back to his usual personality and was able to get over the loss of his arm. He started to work on the farm when he was sixteen years old and had had a few girlfriends. A year later, he had gotten a job as a car mechanic at the town's only auto-shop. Even without the use of his arm, he was a strong young man who excelled at mechanics.

* * *

On her way to Earth, Amber thought about how great Yellow Diamond was and about what Peridot did to become a fugitive. Her thoughts escaped her as she felt the ship being jostled by an unknown force. She lost control as it plummeted to the Earth, the hull catching fire. It crashed into an area with many trees surrounding it. The tan gem crawled out, sprawling herself on the ground.

She tried to make contact with Homeworld, "Yellow Diamond, my ship has crashed…"

The communicator had no connection as it had cracked on the fall. Amber tried to pick herself up, but the flames were too much for her feeble body. Her eyes closed as her face rested on the ground. When she had awoken again, she managed to muster enough strength to stand up and wander away from the spreading fire. The limb enhancers had lost their power, but she still lifted them with the little energy in her legs. Eventually she had found a red building that had an entrance. Strength was fading away from her as her body collapsed onto a bundle of Earth straw. Amber closed her eyes, but sleep took a long time to find her.

* * *

Luca sat up in his bed; it was new so it didn't feel that comfortable yet. He pushed the covers off and tried to make it more even, but nothing seemed to work. In the end, he decided to put on a shirt and get something to drink. His left arm had ceased to bother him thanks to years of therapy. He missed his parents, but had found things to fill the large gap that they had left. When he finished his drink, Luca wandered back to bed only to be knocked to his knees by a loud thud. He picked himself up and put on shoes, running outside to see a flickering light in the distance. Luca ran through the cornfield, looking for the source. He saw flames growing to engulf the forest and ran back home to call 911 to help out. Within hours the flames were silenced, it was determined to be a brush fire started by the heat.

The blond-haired boy started to walk home but discovered deep footsteps. He followed them all the way to the barn where he found a small girl who was covered in dirt and scratches. Luca got closer to her, but her golden eyes opened quickly as she hopped to her feet.

"Stay back human! I am armed," the tan girl said furiously as her fingers fell from her aiming arm.

"This is my uncle's barn," Luca replied, frowning, "Do you need help?"

"No!" the tan girl pulled her fingers off the ground and made a weapon-like shape, "Leave me alone now!"

As she fired several shots at Luca, he picked up a shovel, "I don't want to have to use this!"

The girl shot at his leg, scraping it as Luca hit her in the stomach with the shovel. A loud clang sounded the barn as the girl instantly poofed, an amber clattering to the ground. Luca picked the gem up; it was shaped like a golden teardrop. He studied it; a small crack had formed where he had hit it. Parts were scattered on the ground, but Luca thought he could use them for his job. He had no idea what to do with the gem, but placed it in his windowsill, maybe he could give it to his girlfriend tomorrow. Luca went back to bed after cleaning his wound. The girl was a surprisingly bad shot for such an advanced weapon and he wondered where she came from, but knew that his girlfriend was a fan of amber.

When Luca woke up, he made a breakfast of bacon and eggs for his uncle and him. He decided not to tell him of his encounter with the strange girl as he most likely murdered her and could be charged with manslaughter.

"I have a date with Wendy today…" Luca said to his uncle.

"Okay, I hope you have a nice time," the uncle smiled.

Luca grinned wildly, "I found an amber and I think that I am going to give it to her."

When Luca finished, he put away his dishes and ran out the front door straight to the auto shop to fix cars until five thirty. After he finished his last car, he ran to the florist and got three roses, one for each of the years he had known his girl. The amber in his pocket glowed dully as he ran to the meeting place. He was going to give the gem to his lover as a token of his affection. Luca saw his girl waiting for him at the front of the restaurant, her deep brown hair swaying in the wind.

"Hey Wendy!" he said, catching his breath, "I got you a little something…"

Wendy smiled, "You did?"

Luca nodded as the two walked inside the restaurant holding hands. The roses were placed on the table and Luca invited Wendy to lift them. Underneath, the amber glowed, getting increasingly brighter.

She held the gem in her hands, "You know that I love amber…"

"And you know that I love you."

Wendy laughed and the two embraced, neither one wanting to let go until the gem started to form a body. The brown-haired girl dropped the gem on the ground as the body faded, but Luca picked it up, not knowing what was happening. Within seconds, the body reformed as the amber floated into the air.

A tan girl struggled to pick herself up and adjusted her visor, "YOU!"

She leapt at Luca, but he pushed her back with one arm, "What are you doing here, how did you come back?"

"None of your business! You are going to pay for what you did!" the tan girl lunged as Luca again as Wendy shook her head.

"I am so done here, if there was another woman, you should have told me!" the dark-haired girl quickly ran out of the restaurant.

"See what you have done?!" Luca yelled at the tan girl, "She loved me and you just had to come back!"

"It's not my fault you didn't think about bringing my gem wherever you went!" the tan girl hopped into a chair to bring herself to eye level, "You are the one who invaded my shelter."

"It wasn't your shelter, it's my uncle's barn," Luca paused, looking at the gem on the girl's stomach.

The tan girl scratched Luca's face with her claws as he grabbed her arm, "What are you looking at?!"

"Nothing," Luca said looking away and letting her arm go.

The tan girl adjusted her yellow visor and looked at her stomach, "Oh my… Stars, it's cracked! What did you do? I am so screwed!"

"I hit you with a shovel, there was a small dent in it thanks to your gem," Luca said slowly, "You were the one that was trying to hurt me!"

"Oh…" the tan girl fainted in her chair.

"Hey! Did your girl have too much to drink or something? Get her out of here," the bartender said, slightly frustrated.

Luca picked up the tan girl with one arm and walked outside with her limp body. Losing Wendy was enough to make him want to put the strange girl in the garbage, but he decided to bring her to his house.


	2. Mistakes Made

**A/N: Hey guys, thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter! -Mali**

Two dark eyes struggled to open themselves as a tan girl woke herself up. She felt her surroundings through slightly blurred vision and found human straw; she was back where she started. Lifting herself up, the tan girl wandered around the barn trying to find whatever weapons she could to prepare for the human who had almost killed her. Her desire to exit the miserable planet she was stuck on rang through her head as she found the shovel that cracked her gem in the first place. It had a small dent like the boy had said, but she still wanted to protect herself.

"Come out wherever you are!" she shouted, "I know you live here!"

The barn door opened and a grey-haired human walked in, "How did you get in my barn? Are you a traveller?"

"Kind of… I am stuck on this awful planet and I need to get home…" the tan girl sat down on a hay bale, "Do you know how I can get out of here?"

"Well… I don't have much experience with gem-kind, but I know a friend who does," the man sat down across from her on another hay bale, "What type are you, an amber?"

"Y-Yes, Facet 3F6G Cut 6XA…" Amber paused, "How did you know that I am a gem?"

"I know now, but no one from around here has deep orange hair and tan skin," the uncle paused and crouched in front of the tan gem, "Aaand, who wears a uniform like that on Earth?"

"I don't know. Where is the other human? He lives here so where could he be…" Amber touched the crack on her gem.

"Ooh what happened to your gem?" the uncle lightly put his hand on the cracks of the amber.

The tan gem pushed his hand off, "The other human hit it with this shovel! I will hit something precious to him with it!"

"Uh I don't think Luca would take too kindly to it. He can be a bit grumpy sometimes," the uncle paused, "What was your mission?"

"I have to take back a couple of traitors…" Amber paused, "It's really none of your business."

"Okay, so you are fairly high ranked at home," the uncle smiled, "I bet you want to destroy the Earth."

"N-No… Yes," the tan gem held tightly onto her shovel, "It is a horrible planet that deserves to be drained of all its resources and destroyed. Now answer my question, where is the human boy?"

"He is at school right now, but should be getting home within the next couple hours. His job is every day at five so he should have some time to talk with you before he begins work," the uncle paused, "I wouldn't recommend trying to hurt him."

"I won't lay a single digit on him," Amber smiled crookedly.

"Sure," the uncle stood up and walked out, "Don't crack your gem anymore or you could have horrible side affects."

Amber sat on her hay bale wondering how to fix her gem and get revenge however getting revenge was the more powerful of the thoughts. She could go to his human school and be the smartest "human" there, rubbing his face in it. She could kill his caretaker or girlfriend right in front of his face. She could set his home on fire and make sure as many humans where inside as possible. Amber thought of many possibilities as she fidgeted with her communicator. She walked outside of the barn and wandered back to where her ship crashed, the communicator finally activating.

Yellow Diamond's Pearl answered, "Oh, it's you, let me get you to my Diamond."

Amber had done her a favor a while ago, so she had the obligation to connect her directly to her leader.

"Hello my Diamond," Amber knelt, "My ship had technical difficulties and crashed. I am very far from Peridot, the Vex, and Jasper."

"Why did I send you alone? I knew you couldn't do it… You had so much potential before," Yellow Diamond paused, "You have failed me."

"Well, what should I do?" Amber said.

"I am leaving you on Earth to suffer. Failures don't get sent home, they stay," Yellow Diamond frowned.

"But I won't survive here…" the tan gem stood up, "I have been loyal all of these thousands of years! Take me home!"

"Well I will send you "home" soon," Yellow Diamond hung up.

Amber stared at her communicator; it was about to be remotely detonated as she fell into fetal position. Her leader, who she had once revered, rejected her without a second thought. She deserved to die a horrible death for breaking her trust. All of a sudden, the human boy's caretaker ran to her side.

"Why are you here?" Amber asked helplessly.

"To help you survive this," the uncle grabbed the device, but Amber snagged it back, shoving it to her chest.

"Leave me alone, this is going to kill you," Amber fought away his hands and the tears that trickled down her cheeks, "Go away!"

"No," the uncle ripped the device from her hands and threw it towards the pieces of ship.

He instantly jumped over Amber protecting her from the blast. After the explosion echoed through the valley, the uncle got off of the tan gem.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I don't matter …" the gem mumbled.

"Yes you do," the uncle stood and offered Amber his hand, "Everyone matters."

The gem took his hand and they walked back to the house together.

"Luca should be home by now, I wonder where he is…" the uncle wondered aloud.

Amber wondered too as she kicked the blue door to his room open, "No don't do that, I have to pay for the door if it breaks."

"Sorry," Amber frowned, she wanted to find and exact her revenge as soon as possible without hurting anyone.

The boy was not in his bed, so Amber checked everywhere in his room. She couldn't find a trace of the human but asked the uncle where his school was. He gave her directions and soon enough, she found the school. It was larger than she thought but Amber trudged through the gate. The school was empty as it was already out, but the tan gem still searched.

"And then this strange creature comes out of a piece of amber and attacks me… It's like she did it on purpose and now Wendy hates me!" Luca said from around a corner to a group of guy friends.

Amber felt a pang of guilt, but remembered her cracked gem. She ran around the corner with her fists out, hissing.

"Oh looks like you're up, maybe you can take that somewhere else," Luca was emotionless, "This is that strange creature, guys."

One of the guy friends gave her a strange look, but Amber stood tall, "You need to pay!"

She was shoved up against a wall by Luca's right arm, "Listen here, get out of my life, you already ruined my relationship with Wendy!"

"Nope, I am going to make your life horrible!" her neck was barred and she coughed, "I don't need to breathe, so you can hold me up here until you let me go. You pathetic humans seem to feel compa-"

Luca let go and punched Amber straight in the face, her head bumping the wall, "Is that all you got?!"

The tan gem kicked Luca in the crotch, sending him to his knees. His friends backed him up and kicked Amber in her knees and arms. She ran back to Luca's house, picking the lock at the front door.

The caretaker walked over to the gem, "Woah, Amber, are you alright? You are all bruised up… What happened?"

"Luca and his humans hurt me…" the gem fell into the uncle's arms, "Is my gem any worse?"

The uncle turned her over, "No, it's still looking the same. I called my friends up in Maryland and they said that your gem will stay cracked until we find a healer."

"I just want to get revenge…" Amber started to close her eyes, so the uncle quickly brought her to the couch. She fell asleep the instant blankets covered her cold body. The uncle decided to wait until Luca got home so he wouldn't try anything on the sleeping gem.

When the one-armed boy arrived, he was shocked to see the being occupying the couch. She looked so peaceful with her visor off and her eyes closed gently that he found himself wishing he hadn't hurt her in the first place.

"Luca, why did you hurt her?" the uncle asked quietly, "She is from another planet, the least you could have done was be gentle."

"She started it… she said nasty things, scratched my face, shot my leg, and hit me in the crotch today," Luca paused, "This girl is just nasty."

"Amber just wanted to protect herself, what are you saying about yourself if you attack a girl as weak as her?" the uncle frowned as he touched the gem's forehead, "It seems like she has a fever."

"Fine, I will take care of her as long as she doesn't attack me," Luca sat where his uncle sat and felt the gem's head.

It was hot to the touch so he got a wet towel and placed it gently atop her forehead. Eventually, the uncle went to bed when he realized he could trust Luca. The one-armed boy took off the blankets and saw where the bruises were located. A pang of guilt struck him when he touched one and the girl trembled in slight pain. She stirred occasionally in her sleep, but when Luca stroked her hair, she became calm. Sun started to light up the room and Luca realized that he had fallen asleep. Luca made breakfast for him and his uncle after he stood and stretched. He decided to eat in front of the gem so that if she woke up, she could have some food, but her eyes wouldn't open.

The uncle joked, "Maybe a kiss of true love could wake her?" Luca got close to the sleeping gem and placed his lips on hers, "Wait! I didn't mean to actually do it!"

Amber's deep-sea blue eyes slowly opened. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes, unknowing of why Luca and the caretaker were surprised.

The gem looked to the uncle and yawned, "Why is he here?"

"He took care of you last night, you had a fairly bad fever," the caretaker paused, "Do you know what woke you up?"

"No, what?" Amber asked, still groggy.

"Luca kissed you," the uncle noticed his nephew blushing.

"What's a kiss?" the tan gem questioned, becoming less sleepy.

"Well…" the uncle whispered and Amber's cheeks flushed light blue.

"You!" Amber said loudly as Luca looked at her, "You dare to give me a kiss?"

"My uncle suggested it…" Luca flushed.

"Oh…" Amber looked to the caretaker, he was innocent and didn't look like he wanted to hurt her, "Never mind then, but never do it again!"

"Okay, I promise," Luca stuck out his right pinky to the gem.

"What do I do?" Amber asked the caretaker.

"Put your pinky to his, then it is a promise," the uncle smiled.

Amber did so and the promise was made to never make that sort of contact again. The gem grabbed her visor and placed it in front of her eyes.

She stood up, "Is it time for school?"

"You aren't going with me to school are you?" Luca frowned, "Only humans go to school, plus your bruises still haven't healed up yet."

"I signed her up for classes," the uncle smiled, "And her injuries heal faster than you would expect. Treat her nicely."

"Well…" Luca paused, "I guess you can come with me."

"You should feel privileged that I am attending you to school!" Amber said, smiling a toothy grin.

"Sure, I totally feel privileged," Luca said sarcastically looking to his uncle, "Let's go."

The two walked out the door along the street. Amber couldn't help staring at the strange country people, but stuck close to Luca. She hated the planet and everything on it except for the caretaker.

"Would it kill you to be nice?" Luca asked.

"Yes, these humans don't deserve my kindness!" Amber replied.

"I worry about you…" Luca said under his breath.

"Hey! Why are you missing an arm?" the curious gem asked, "All of the other humans have all of their parts so why are you missing one?"

"I lost it when I was younger," Luca said, but there was something bothering him, "I am really sorry about beating you up the other day, I kind of lost it."

"Oh don't worry, I am going to make your life horrible!" Amber smiled a toothy grin.

The two finally got to the school and Luca went to his class, they were both registered as juniors. It was the first semester for Luca so he had three classes to go to that would be totally different than the next semester's. He went to his class and sat down. Amber's first class was with Luca and so was her last, but her middle class was unknown. She sat down in Luca's desk before he could, but he picked her up with one arm and put her in an empty desk.

"Yo, who's your girl?" a classmate shouted across the room.

"She isn't my girl, she is just here," Luca responded.

The bell rang three times and the teacher stood in front of the podium, "Today we have a new student, Amber would you please come up and tell us a little about yourself?"

Amber looked to Luca with uncertainty, but stood tall, "Certainly."

She looked at the humans with confident eyes, "I… am from… a place and am four thousand five hundred thirty-seven years old. You are all puny in my eyes, but I look forward to learning with you."

The gem walked to her desk, but she could hear whispers about her hair color and clothes. She had no idea how to change her outfit so she left it that way. Amber felt her gem, she was nervous about her introduction and felt a bit guilty for insulting Luca. As math class continued, Amber knew all about it and she became popular for the answers.

Soon enough the bell rang and Amber went off to her new class. It was history, something she knew nothing about. She introduced herself and sat down in the front, so that she could see the board best. A girl with red hair sat next to her, but her desperate attempts to make friends were put down by Amber.

"Who was George Washington, Amber?" the teacher asked the gem.

She sheepishly looked around, "They are a person in a history book."

"Well yes, let's look for help. Rita can you answer the question?" the teacher smiled.

"George Washington was the first president of the United States, where we live, Amber," Rita snobbishly looked to the gem.

"I thought we are on the East Coast of Continent 3?" Amber pondered out loud.

"What? What is Continent 3?" Rita asked, drawing laughs from all directions.

"It's a place on the Earth," Amber frowned adjusting her visor.

"Why are you wearing a visor?" Rita said in a cruel tone of voice, "What are you trying to protect yourself from?"

"I…" Amber flushed, "I… feel like it…"

"Can you take off your visor?" the teacher asked, suspicious.

"I don't want to at the moment. It helps me see better," Amber responded.

The teacher nodded and continued the lesson until the bell rang. Amber cleaned up her papers and shoved them in the messenger bag Luca gave her. Rita walked out ahead of her and slammed the door in her face. The tan gem pushed it open and looked for Luca, but he was busy with his friends, the ones that had beaten her up.

She watched the humans eat their lunches, but walked to her next class to set up a trap for Luca. Amber quickly picked the lock of the door and filled a bucket with water, putting it atop the threshold. The bell rang and the tan gem knew that Luca was usually the first human to enter the classroom. Sure enough, Luca walked in, but the bucket was a dud and didn't fall on him. He sat down in his seat while Amber wondered why it didn't fall. She punched the wall and the bucket fell on top of a large guy with brown hair.

He growled, "Luca was this your idea?"  
Luca shook his head and pointed to Amber who shrugged, "It wasn't for you, it was for him!"

The guy frowned, but sat down, his seat was next to Amber. He kept on staring at her, which made her feel uncomfortable, but he was only human, what could he do?

Amber was paired with the strange human for the solute and solvent lab but couldn't care less for him. She was just nervous as his personality seemed slightly dangerous.

"Can you go get the sugar?" Amber asked nervously.

The guy grunted, but obliged. The two had completed their lab first so they had plenty of free time. The human tried to start a conversation but Amber paid no attention, as she was only interested in Luca. At the end of the day, Amber and Luca walked home together. He warned her not to make the school bully mad, but she shrugged his warnings off.

As soon as Luca left for work, Amber went to the caretaker and hugged him, "Today was horrible, humans kept on trying to talk to me, but I don't wish to talk to them!"

"Shush, don't worry it was only your first day. Just try to be nice and they will understand," the uncle stroked her hair, "Amber, I am sure that you are going to be a great student."

The tan gem walked outside and ended up in the barn tinkering with some old machines, continuing to think about her reputation at school.


	3. Horrible People

**A/N: There is alcohol involved in this chapter! Caution if you are sensitive to that kind of stuff. Thanks!**

In the morning, Amber walked back into the house. Her tinkering was successful and she had fixed the blender. She placed it on the counter and found an outlet. When it turned on, it woke up the whole house, the caretaker leaving his room to check out the noise.

Minutes later, Luca arrived groggily in the kitchen, "Amber it's five thirty in the morning!"

"I fixed the blender," the tan gem replied snootily.

"I can see that, but why are you turning it on now?" Luca yawned, "School doesn't start till nine."

"I just wanted to see if it worked or not…" Amber said, "Why do _you_ need to sleep?"

"Thanks for fixing the blender, Amber," the caretaker smiled making the gem blush bright blue.

"I am going to make breakfast for you," the tan gem decided.

She was about to put a hamburger bun in, but Luca stopped her, "That is bread, you never put bread in smoothies."

"I knew that!" Amber responded, grabbing a slice of bread from the fridge.

"That is bread too…" Luca frowned, "Here, let me show you the types of food in the fridge. This is meat, bread, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, milk, water, and orange juice."

"Oh, for a smoothie I need orange juice, yogurt, and fruits…" Amber thought out loud.

"Yes, I think you got this," Luca smiled, "We are going back to bed, let us know when breakfast is ready."  
"Okay," Amber said as the guys walked back to their rooms.

An hour later, Amber had made a pinkish smoothie. She proportioned it so that the caretaker had the most and Luca the least.

"Breakfast is ready!" she called out.

Luca and his uncle sat at the table and drank their smoothies. The caretaker smiled after he took the first sip, but Luca spat his out. Amber tilted her head; did the "special ingredient" work? Once again, the one-armed boy wiped his mouth and took another sip.

"I poisoned his drink," Amber whispered into the caretaker's ear as his eyes widened, "He is going to have digestive system problems."

"No, you can't do this, he is family," the uncle frowned at her, causing the gem to wince, "Luca, stop drinking the smoothie."

The one-armed boy put down the glass, "What's wrong with my drink?"

"It's got some weird ingredient in it," the uncle narrowed his eyes at Amber, "What did you put in it?"

"I put in this…" the tan gem brought a tall bottle with clear liquid in it.

"Alcohol?" Luca hiccupped, "I can't get drunk, I'm a minor."

"Amber!" the caretaker said sharply, making the gem suddenly down the whole bottle.

"Sorry- hic, now we are even, right caretaker?" the tan gem struggling to stay balanced.

"You know what?" the uncle said angrily, "I am making you stay home today!"

Amber ran outside far away from the caretaker until she couldn't see him anymore. She crawled into a cave and through to its deepest tunnel. The tan gem had hurt the only thing she cared for at the moment and it made her feel small. He had done so much for her and here she was ruining his kindness. Hours passed by, Luca was bound to be home from work by now, but Amber didn't want to talk to him. Clouds had started to cover the sky by the time she heard approaching footsteps. As rain started to pour, she couldn't understand why all of these feelings floated into her head. They mixed, positive with negative, things she had never experienced before. Perhaps it was the human substance, or maybe it was just her thinking too much about it. Rain had soaked her body, turning it into a dripping dark orange as the footsteps came closer. The one-armed boy sat in front of the tunnel.

"What's got you so upset?" Luca asked, "Was it my uncle's anger? Did I do something?"

"No…" Amber put her hands to her face, "I just want to get home, back to Yellow Diamond but she won't take me back. She tried to kill me and called me a failure, but I still want to be with her."

"That's not a good idea to still like her after all she did to you," Luca placed his hand on the cool rock, "Amber, you are worth much more than you think. I just don't know what you are trying to prove by attacking me."

"You cracked my gem…" Amber frowned, lightly stroking her core; "I need this to be whole so that I can have my full strength back. I guess I just wanted to get revenge on you…"

"I am sorry that I broke something precious to you. We had a misunderstanding and I get that, you are from another planet and didn't know where you were," Luca noticed the gem getting slightly closer to him as the rain thinned out, "The least I could have done was negotiate."

Amber crawled out of the tunnel she was in and sat next to Luca, he was soaking wet. The one-armed boy got a good look at her face; cheeks flushed blue and tears streaming slowly. She leaned onto his right side and felt herself being held by his strong arm.

"How about we go back home, my uncle is worried about you," Luca stood up, but slouched.

"I can't the weather is strange…" Amber had never seen rain, but she didn't seem willing to find out what it was.

"It's just a little rain, it's not toxic at all," Luca smiled, "See?"

Amber tried to stop him from walking into the rain, but noticed that Luca wasn't getting melted at all. She followed him into the pouring rain and the two walked back to the house. Luca opened the doors to where the caretaker sat on the couch, watching some strange show.

Amber walked in soaking wet and stood by his side, "I am sorry for what I did earlier, it was wrong of me…"

The uncle stood up and wrapped his hands around the small gem, "Don't ever scare me like that again, I care about you too much…"

"I won't," the gem promised embracing the caretaker with her wet body.

Luca smiled, even though he was soaking wet, he was glad things worked out the way they did. However, one thing stuck out to him from earlier in school, Alex had asked him whether or not Amber was human. He said that she wasn't however, now he was regretting giving up the information. The gem hiccupped, but the uncle patted her back. Luca wondered how it felt to hold such a small being in both of his arms but pushed the thought aside.

"Hey, at school, she was being bullied for her outfit," Luca said, breaking the hug apart gently, "Do we have any clothes for her here?"

"Yeah, I still have some of your mother's clothes from when she was your age," the uncle smiled at Amber, "What is your favorite color?"

"It's blue…" Amber replied thoughtfully, "How do I wear human clothes."

"You can figure it out," Luca said, "It's not that hard."

The uncle searched in Luca's mother's old room for the articles of clothing and found several small blouses and pairs of pants, skirts, and shorts, "You can stay in this room, I haven't been in in ages but we can help you dust it."

"I think I can work in here and you two can sleep," Amber said, "Thank you for this room."

When the two left, the tan gem made her garments disappear and put on the new clothes. She liked the small cut-off blouse with blue stripes and jeans the most. The gem wandered about the room, discovering things about Luca's mother that intrigued her. Old photos of her and another human littered the shelves. She saw pictures of a smaller Luca with two arms running around with an earth creature. Amber walked out of the room and received smiles from Luca and the caretaker.

"Lookin' good!" the uncle said.

"You look pretty good, Amber," Luca said, as the gem adjusted her sleeves.

"Thank you," Amber replied, "Is it time for you to sleep yet again?"

"Yes," Luca smiled, "Good night."

The caretaker said good night and the two walked off to their respective bedrooms leaving Amber to stand in the hallway. She walked back to her room and looked at herself in the mirror. Her body shape was ideal for an amber, but it didn't satisfy her completely. The gem attempted to shape shift and became as skinny as a peridot. When she finished, she remarked on the perfect shape. She felt as strong and as good as the peridots on Homeworld, but felt slightly sick when she lay in bed. Amber pushed away the thoughts and closed her eyes, falling asleep within minutes.

In the morning, the gem struggled to sit up; Luca had arrived to wake her up. She hurriedly ran out the door after greeting him to discover the caretaker eating an egg.

"Hey you, did you sleep well?" the uncle asked.

"I think I slept, I don't know how it felt," the gem sat down the chair next to the caretaker, "How was uh… your sleep?"

"Oh, I slept pretty fine," the uncle took another bite, "Something about you looks different…"

"I lost a lot of weight last night by… doing a lot of jumping," Amber smiled, "Don't I look great?"

"Whatever you feel good with," the caretaker went back to his breakfast.

A week had passed with her having this form and she was feeling sorer each day. Occasionally she shifted back only to be disgusted with how she looked. The gem shifted back and went to school sweaty one day.

"Are you going to be okay?" Luca asked, "That weight loss program you have been doing looks like it hurts…"

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt at all!" Amber smiled reassuringly.

She sat down in her seat and wiped the sweat off her face, thankfully not being asked to answer any questions. After first period, Amber left Luca and sat in her next class.

Rita stared at her, "Why are you looking so uncomfortable, have you finally looked into a mirror?"

"No, I finally realized that you are fatter than me, look at this," Amber shifted her body even thinner, "Measure, please."

The girl measured Amber, she was a foot around her waist. Rita pushed up her glasses and shook her head.

"But still, you have that ugly gem on your belly, do you even have a belly button?" Rita was nitpicky, "Don't you know that your blush is ugly too? Why is it blue? Why is a non human allowed in this school?"

Amber's eyes widened, "I am perfectly human."

"Uh, Alex says he knows you aren't human," Rita snobbishly shook her head, "Pity you weren't a better person, here's a note."

"Thanks," Amber read it, "Oh so I go behind the F building after school for a special reward?"

"Um, yeah…" Rita felt pity for a few seconds, but went back to her studies.

Amber sat down as class started. She felt at the top of her game today for this class, she had already gotten a nice note.

After class, she excitedly went straight to Luca's lunch table. The gem sat next to her friend and watched him eat, both wanting to tell him and not wanting to tell him about her note. She decided not to and walked off after lunch to her classroom with Luca. When Alex walked in, Amber greeted him, but became worried after he constantly stared at her. Luca watched the two interact, he usually found Alex staring at Amber but today it was different. Rita was the school gossip so later he wanted to talk to her about the events unfolding before his eyes.

"Hey, um Rita told me I wasn't human, did you have anything to do with spreading that lie?" Amber said nervously.

"Oh, Luca told me about it," Alex frowned, "Is it true?"

"No, it's a lie," Amber said reassuringly, however Alex didn't look convinced.

After class, Amber looked at the note and ran to the F building. She walked behind it and didn't see anyone there. The gem was about to leave, but was pushed against a wall. Amber saw the person's face as she tried to focus her eyes. It was a heavily breathing Alex whose hands lightly touched her body.

"Hey, Alex, can you let me go?" Amber didn't like the strange feeling of his sweaty fingers on her neck as blows landed on her face and chest.

But Alex didn't answer and continued to punch her form as it wavered in exhaustion. His fingers clenched harder as she tried to escape.

"Guh! Alex let me go this instant before I kill you!" Amber squirmed as she was knocked to the ground and blows landed on her stomach, one hitting her gem.

Her form wavered, but reverted to its scrawny form as she gave in. All of a sudden, Luca ran around the building and kicked Alex in the face. Amber still lay on the ground, panting and staring at the sky. Alex stood up and started to wrestle with Luca. Minutes passed as the two tussled, Luca eventually taking down Alex and shoving him into the alleyway.

Luca ran over to the fallen gem, "Hey! Keep yourself together! Amber, look at me!"

The gem looked at Luca, "Humans… are horrible…"

He smoothed her hair out, "Calm yourself, your form looks like it's been messed up."

"I have to stay skinny, I look best that way," Amber struggled to say.

"You are already skinny, look, your body is about done with keeping this up," Luca touched her gem, "See, it's stressed out."

Amber looked at her gem, it was glowing angrily at the stress, "But I look so ugly…"

"No, you look pretty. Now focus on what you used to look like," Luca said encouragingly.

The gem closed her eyes and steadily relieved the stress on her body, returning it to its normal state. She then passed out on Luca's lap, but he picked her up with one arm.

"I am so proud of you," Luca whispered as he walked home carrying the gem.

He placed her in her bedroom, walking to the kitchen; he was going to take the day off of work. The caretaker and him talked for several hours, but he decided to go be with Amber. While she slept Amber tossed and turned, occasionally kicking the covers off the bed. When she finally woke up, Amber felt like nothing had happened until memories flooded back into her head.

"Luca, he was horrible, I thought I was going to get a reward, but he just punched me!" Amber shivered, fighting back her tears, "Thanks for… rescuing me…"

"Anyone who is in trouble deserves to be rescued," Luca smiled as Amber wrapped her arms around him.

"What is this warm feeling that I get whenever I am near you?" the curious gem asked.

"It might be love," Luca said.

"But I hate you…" Amber said, her arms still around him.

"Doesn't look like it," Luca hugged her back, "I guess that this is a hate-love relationship."

"Maybe…" the gem fazed on her regular uniform, "I am going to be myself."

"Understandable," Luca smiled, "You look great in that outfit."

"Thank you," Amber kissed Luca's hand, "That is because you saved me."

"Wow, thanks!" Luca responded, "Is that the highest form of honor on Homeworld?"

"No, I read it in a book," Amber made a toothy grin.


	4. New Beginnings

Amber and Luca walked to the kitchen, the caretaker was making dinner. It smelled of some strange new essence. The curious gem looked into the pot and saw long pieces of thick yellow hair bubbling. She attempted to put her hand in the pot to get some but was halted by the uncle. Amber walked to the table and sat next to Luca.

"How long does it take for these injuries to fade? For some reason I couldn't feel them yesterday…" Amber said, "They really hurt."

"You were probably experiencing the feeling of shock," the caretaker said, "The human body takes a long time to heal, but your body is probably faster."

"Can I get a healer?" Amber said, rubbing her head and slowly recollecting her mission, walking out the screen door, "I have to capture Peridot!"

The caretaker looked to Luca, "Maybe she took some blows to the head. Her original mission probably took over in her mind, she could turn against us."

"I think she likes this planet, she said that Yellow Diamond wouldn't take her back, so what's the point of capturing the fugitives?" Luca said, suddenly starting to remember how she hadn't really ever had any good experiences.

"You never know, she probably really hates other humans," the caretaker said, "But let's not give up hope, Maryland is a while away from here."

Amber opened up the screen door and walked around in a circle, "Where is Mary's Land?"

"It's Maryland and it is way North from here," Luca said, "You shouldn't go there, the Crystal Gems could hurt you real bad."

"… But I want to finish my mission, just maybe, Yellow Diamond will make an exception for the planet…" Amber felt the fingers, which she had hardly seen before landing, "Some things here are worth protecting."

The caretaker and Luca looked on in silence until it was broken, "Luca, you know how to drive, right?"

"Yeah," the one-armed boy said, "I can drive us there, Amber."

"Okay, let's go," Amber decided.

"Don't try anything with her," the caretaker jokingly whispered in Luca's ear, but he only smiled and nodded.

"Well, good thing it's Friday today," Luca smiled widely.

"It is?" Amber questioned.

"Yes, now let's eat dinner and then we'll be on our way," Luca helped serve the pasta giving the smallest portion to Amber, "Uncle, can you tell my boss I am taking the weekend and Monday off?"

"Sure thing!" the caretaker was glad to see Luca with a good friend as opposed to his ex girlfriend, Wendy.

That girl had always bothered him, even if she was seemingly only being nice. She had a strange air to her, as if she was constantly judging everyone around her. The girl had even said plain out that if her husband didn't make a lot of money, she could never truly love him. But with Amber, she seemed pure; maybe she could do well with Luca if she was human. However she wasn't. He watched her trying to eat the pasta, constantly having trouble swallowing. If she was determined to do something, he might as well let her do it. The caretaker knew that there was no chance Amber could become murderous; Luca would be there to stop her.

The two left that night, bracing themselves for a sluggish eleven-hour drive. When they got into Maryland, Luca pulled out a map and drove to a place called Beach City. Amber's face was glued to the window in the back seat as she stared at her new surroundings. Luca had had to take a stop to buy snacks on the way and she had picked out a coloring book. He gave in to her puppy eyes and paid for everything.

The gem ran back to the car and hopped into shotgun, slapping the seatbelt on, "Come on, Luca let's go finish my mission!"

"You must have gotten hit really hard," Luca sighed, "Wait! You can't sit in the front with me."

"Please, just for the rest of the ride?" Amber begged.

"Fine," Luca sighed heavily and applied the gas, exiting the station.

Within the span of twenty minutes, the car had driven to a boardwalk. Luca parked it and pulled out the map, wondering how to get to the house. Amber fidgeted while he tried to figure it out, but he put the map away and walked into a donut shop.

"Hello, welcome to the Big Donut!" a blond smiled.

Luca smiled back, "Hello, we aren't from around here, do you know where Greg Universe lives?"

"Oh yes! He lives by the big mountain with the statue, good luck finding his house," the girl smiled while her counterpart nodded his head to some music.

"Thanks so much," Luca said gratefully.

"Wait, one question before you leave," the blond said, "How did you drive here with only one arm?"

"I got used to it, but it is a fairly strong arm," Luca said, "It's just a bit tiring over long distances."

"I see, well, my name is Sadie and this is Lars," the girl smiled, "If you need any help, don't hesitate to call us."

"I won't, thank you very much," Luca said, walking back to his car.

Amber was nowhere to be found, she must have heard the directions and gone off. Luca ran along the coast trying to find the tallest mountain in the area. When he finally found it, he walked to the house and knocked on the door.

A tall, pale woman with a pointy nose and a pearl on her forehead answered, "Hello, uh are you human?"

"Yeah, are you a Crystal Gem?" Luca asked carefully.

"Who sent you?" the gem asked, pulling in her fingers slightly.

"Uh, my uncle who knows Greg," Luca said.

"Pearl! Who's there?" a boy called from inside.

"It's a strange boy with one arm, Steven!" the gem answered.

"Hey, um did another gem come by here?" Luca asked.

"No," Pearl said flatly and slammed the door.

"Something is up with the gems over here…" Luca said aloud, turning to walk down the steps.

"Wait!" the boy burst open the door, "Hey, a gem did come here, but she was poofed…"

"Can I see her?" Luca asked, "She is kind of my friend."

"Sure, come on in," the boy said, "By the way, my name is Steven."

"Okay, Steven," Luca followed the boy inside to a bustling house.

"It was a really bad idea for your friend to come in here and try to hurt Peridot," Steven frowned, "She was poofed in seconds…"

"Sounds like her," Luca said.

"Hey Steven, who is he?" a green gem on the couch frowned.

"Uh, he is-"

"Luca, my name is Luca," the one-armed boy waved.

"Hi Luca," a tall red gem said, "I am Garnet, and this is Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot."

The presumably Crystal Gems narrowed their eyes as Luca went up the stairs to Steven's room. Steven gave Luca the gem and he felt the crack with his fingertips; it had deepened since he last felt it. He walked past the other gems with her gem and was followed. Luca turned around; all of the gems had their eyes on the gem within his protection.

"Dude, where you going with the enemy?" Amethyst asked, frowning.

"I am going to take her to my car," Luca frowned.

"Uh no, she will come back in a few hours and try to hurt Peri again," Amethyst said, "We don't want her to hurt her."

"I will be here with her this time," Luca said.

"You can wait here while she regenerates," Steven said, "It was a long ways from Georgia, right?"

"Yeah," Luca nervously grabbed his stump with Amber's lifeline in hand, "Are they friendly? I forgot to ask my uncle about them…"

"When you get to know them, but right now, they are on high alert," Steven continued, "They want to make sure that Peridot is safe as can be as she is a part of our team."

"Alright," Luca walked over to the couch.

Peridot stared into Luca's eyes; she feared the other gem as her face reminded her of an old friend. Luca blinked his chocolate eyes unintentionally, but Peridot found him to be an interesting person. She sat back and acted cool as Steven sat in between her and Luca. The gem felt slightly warm to the touch and Luca wondered if it was because it was cracked, but he pushed the thoughts away.

"Is Georgia nice this time of year?" Steven asked sweetly.

"Yeah, usually autumn is beautiful," Luca paused, "Plenty of trees out there."

"Do you go to the beach?" Steven smiled.

"Usually I don't go," Luca said, "It's kind of hard to swim with only one arm. I used to go with my ex, she and I would lay on the sand."

"Oh, how did you lose it?" Steven asked steadily.

"I…" Luca put his hand to his forehead, "I don't, I can't remember…"

His head felt like it was splitting in two until Steven spoke up, "Hey Luca, it's okay, don't try to think about it anymore."

Peridot had turned her head to see what was going on with the boy. She stared into his now pained eyes and remembered them from somewhere.

"Did you live on the West Coast before?" the green gem asked.

"Y-Yes, why?" Luca answered, wiping his brow.

"Well, I saw some strange files with you in them," Peridot wondered why she was telling him this information, "Apparently, your parents were on the road and-"

"They were attacked by gems…" Luca began to remember horrible thoughts and memories, "Mom and dad tried to protect me, but they were cut up… My arm, it had an infection from something so I had to get it removed."

All of a sudden, Luca started to get a headache and Steven put his hand on Luca's shoulder, "Luca, you don't have to remember if it hurts you."

"I know, I just can't stop…" Luca panted, "There was a yellow gem, an orange gem, and a light green one like Peridot but much bigger…"

"I think I know who you are talking about, but two are dead and the green one is good now," Steven looked down, he had no idea that she could have been there.

"You know her?" Luca asked, "She just kind of walked around in circles and stared at my parents like she didn't want to hurt them. I just sat there, she walked up to me and cut a vein in my arm then went back to her teammates."

"She probably did it to make sure that her old teammates didn't hurt you," Steven said, "I haven't seen Vexus in a while."

"Oh…" Luca ran his fingers over Amber's cracked gem as it started to glow, "Is she finally coming back?"

"Yeah, just let her do her thing," Steven smiled as the gem formed a body.

Luca caught Amber but she frantically squirmed out, "P-Peridot, you are coming back with me!"

"Amber, she isn't the enemy," Luca held her fighting body back, "Yellow Diamond already dumped you, what's the point?"

The orange-haired gem stopped fighting Luca, "I see…"

When she felt the tension of Luca's arm release her, Amber slipped out and ran out the door, slamming it. She ran far away along the beach until she discovered a series of tall mountains. Amber climbed up them, never looking back. Eventually she reached the top of the tallest mountain. The tan gem looked down, the rocks invited her as water lapped over them. She didn't know why she felt these feelings after Yellow Diamond threw her to the side, shouldn't she despise that gem? Amber looked at the view; it was a beautiful afternoon, the perfect day to end herself. She heard shouts; the others had tracked her here. Looking down once again, quickly contemplating her decision Amber walked away from the edge.

Luca's head popped over the top of the mountain, "Amber! Wait, please! Don't do this!"

Amber walked away from him towards the edge, she felt embarrassed that he had to run up the hill. He walked over to her side and looked down silently. Suddenly the rocks gave way and Luca slipped, falling downwards. Amber jumped and held Luca's body as they fell to the approaching rocks. She used up the last of her energy to shove her friend to the water, hearing a satisfying splash as she fell. Her gem hit the rocks, widening the crack.

The tan gem struggled to pick herself up as she was surrounded by the Crystal Gems, "Luca… Are you okay?"

She crawled to the water where Luca lay, his eyes opened, "It hurts, how about you?"

"I feel fine," Amber looked back, she couldn't see very well, but there were three gems already there, "Here, let me move you out of the water."

Her arms wrapped around Luca as she pulled him out and onto the rocks, "How do you feel now, Luca?"

"Better…" the one-armed boy looked into Amber's eyes and removed her visor, "Oh gosh, your eyes… They are all gray…"

"Sh, please don't stress your body. I feel perfectly fine," Amber stroked his wet hair as her eyes became completely black.

Luca started to worry, "Can you see me?"

"Yes, I can see you fine," Amber felt herself destabilizing into the air, "Hey Luca, I have something to tell you."

"Don't talk, you are disappearing…" Luca tried to push himself to his feet.

Amber lifted his sore body to his knees, "I l-"

She couldn't finish her sentence as more pieces of her floated into the air. Tears rolled down Luca's cheeks as her hands vanished from his cheeks. Steven came rushing down and ran forward to Amber, licking his hand. A smile showed on her face as the last parts of her vanished. Steven's hand pushed into her gem, making it start to heal over. The pieces of Amber that floated around went back into her gem as it started to drop to the ground. Luca caught the golden gem and held it to his chest.

"I think she will come back soon, her gem healed over," Steven panted.

"Okay…" Luca said before keeling over onto his side and involuntarily closing his eyes.

"Luca? Luca?" Steven cried out, but no responses were given, "Garnet can you carry him home?"  
"Yes," Garnet picked him up and carried him and Amber home, "That was a long fall but he should be okay."

"I guess Amber wasn't so bad after all," Pearl said out loud.

"No… A while ago when she asked for my help, I couldn't give it to her and she got sent to Earth," Peridot frowned, "She must hate me."

"Peri, Amber doesn't hate you, if she did, she would have continued to try and hurt you on the couch," Steven said reassuringly, "She doesn't seem like she wants to complete her mission anymore."

"Okay," Peridot smiled, thinking of ways to get to know Amber, "How long are they staying?"

"Just until Monday, they drove here but I don't know how Luca did it. He is probably tired," Steven replied.

"Alright," Peridot and the Crystal Gems made their way home.

Luca was set on the couch to rest with Amber's gem on his chest. Several hours later, he woke up to a warm body on top of him. He didn't dare to disturb her so he lay still, steadily breathing.

Two ocean blue eyes opened slowly, "Hello Luca, good morning."

"Good morning," Luca responded, his body no longer feeling hard to move.

Amber got off of him and helped him up, running to the kitchen. She whispered something to Steven and he nodded. Within minutes, a giant stack of waffles was made with whipped cream on top and chocolate syrup. He attempted to eat the masterpiece, but couldn't.

"Yeah, we weren't able to eat it either," Steven giggled.

"Thanks for breakfast though," Luca smiled, standing up, "Where are the gems?"

"Peridot is at the barn with Lapis and the others are on a mission," Steven said thoughtfully.

"Okay," Luca walked outside the house to the porch, "I wonder how the car is doing."

"The vehicle is fine, I drove it over here!" Amber said, "Look at my parking skills!"

Luca put his hand on his face, "Was Steven in the car with you?"

"No, he just watched and tried to tell me not to do it," Amber said.

"Oh geez, it's not made to go on the sand," Luca frowned.

"Oops!" Amber said, walking over to Luca's side, "Can we fix it?"

"Maybe if we get a car wash from my dad," Steven said hopefully.

"Sounds good," Luca said, "By the way, my uncle knows your dad."

"He does?" Steven said, "Oh he must be the sound technician he used to work with."

"My uncle was a technician, but now he works on the farm. Makes sense that he would know something about gems," Luca said, "Well, might as well take the car to get washed."

Amber followed Luca and Steven to the car, "Who wants to sit up front."

"Me!" the both of them said at the same time.

"Argh, I guess Steven can sit up front because he is going to direct me," Luca looked to Amber, "You can sit up here on the way back."

Amber's eyes turned to stars as she and Steven hopped into their seats.

Luca sighed, "Alright, let's go."


	5. No Return

**A/N: Thanks for all dem reviews! Caution, this chapter has a bit of goriness to it. -Mali**

Steven and Amber colored the coloring book as Luca's uncle's car was fixed up and cleaned. It didn't take long to wash the car, but Luca liked talking with his uncle's old buddy.

"So would you ever be interested in flying up here during the summer and staying a week, Luca?" the long-haired man asked.

"Maybe, you guys could get a couple drinks while Steven and I make sure Amber is taken care of," Luca smiled, "Could be fun, Greg."

"Yeah. I have some catching up to do with your uncle," Greg said.

"Luca! I made you this picture," Amber put a horribly colored picture in his hands and ran back to Steven.

"Goodness gracious," Luca said, showing the picture to Greg.

"At least she tried," Greg smiled.

"Yup," Luca said.

"Maybe you ought to leave Amber with us, she seems safer with more of her kind," Greg said, "She looks like she is having fun with Steven, and she is probably going to get along with the Crystal Gems in the future."

"That's probably what I should do, but I know she doesn't want to be without me," Luca said.

"You have to do what's best for her in the end. If you do become one with her, and have a kid, she will die," Greg said, "Rose and I made Steven, but she didn't make it through…"

"I wasn't talking about having kids with her, I was just saying that she is clingy," Luca said.

"Well that's how it always goes, you will end up killing her in the end," Greg said steadily, "Leave her with us and she can have a long healthy life."

"Alright," Luca said, looking to the ground, he didn't want to lose Amber but knew he had to.

The Crystal Gems had already returned to doing what they were doing, going off to distant lands. Peridot bid Steven and Amber a good-bye as she left to join them. Steven always wondered where they went and why they didn't take him, but he pushed the thoughts far away.

"Hey Amber, try to color in the lines," Steven said gently.

"Okay…" Amber's pictures were starting to look much better.

She took a picture of a bunch of butterflies to Luca, "This looks very nice!"

"You are very welcome," Amber left it in his hands and walked off to make more.

"Hey Steven, can you come here a second?" Greg asked.

"Sure dad! I will be right back, Amber!" Steven ran over after putting down his markers.

"Hey, Steven? Luca wants to leave Amber here with you guys but he knows she will want to stay with him," Greg looked to Luca then to Steven, "She will be much safer and happier with you guys than in a town where no one appreciates her."

"Amber needs to be safe, Steven," Luca said gently, "I can't take care of her anymore."

"Okay, we will take her in," Steven said gingerly, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Luca said, believing his own lies.

"If you leave now, she won't see you," Greg said steadily, "It's ten hours right? She won't be able to follow you that far."

"Alright, I will see you sometime in the summer," Luca said, starting to walk to his car.

He regretted not thanking Amber for saving him, but continued walking. Amber stood up and tried to follow him but Steven stopped her.

"Luca! Don't leave me! I made you a really good picture!" tears rolled down Amber's cheeks, "Please don't leave me… I promise I will be a good gem, I swear."

Luca turned away from her and got into his car, quickly driving away. He didn't dare to look back at his crying friend, as he knew he would turn around.

"Please…" Amber fell to the ground, uncontrollably sobbing, "Why did you leave me…"

Steven frowned, he knew she loved Luca, but he also wanted to protect her, "He had to, he wants to keep you safe…"

"But I was safe with him…" Amber cried out.

"You are in love with him right?" Steven asked slowly.

Amber looked at him with hate in her eyes, "No, I just want to be his friend."

"Well, friendship sometimes turns into a relationship which may not be what you need," Steven looked away from the angered gem, "We don't want you to die."

"Isn't that my choice whether or not to love this human?" Amber said, choking down her tears, "Isn't it my choice to live however I wish? He is all I have besides the caretaker!"

"But… We all care about you," Steven looked into the gem's eyes.

Amber took off her visor and looked at Steven, "Please, let me go to him."

"Okay," Steven led the gem to the nearest phone and they called up Luca.

The phone rang for a while but a shaky voice answered, "Hello? Is this Steven? Did something happen to Amber?"

"Everything is okay, Amber has decided she wants to stay with you…" Steven spoke carefully, but he no longer heard the voice.

After a long silence, the voice returned, "Okay, I am coming back."

"Alright," Steven said, "We will drop her off at the gas station near where Ocean City was."

"See you there," Luca responded, he felt horrible for leaving the gem who saved his life.

In half an hour, Amber had gotten into Luca's car and they had taken off. When they were an hour away from home, Amber saw three strange figures. She realized that they were gems and told Luca, who told her to stay calm. He slowed the car and set it in park, making sure it didn't slide off the hill.

The three gems walked toward the car and Luca became worried, "Who are you guys?"

"We are here to finish the job of our failure comrades," the tallest gem frowned, "Please exit the vehicle."

"No," Luca responded slowly grabbing the emergency window breaker.

One of the gems walked to his car door and ripped it off. Luca stabbed the device into the gem's interior, causing it to poof into the air, the gem clattering to the ground. The other two gems surrounded him and his window breaker didn't prove useful anymore. Amber admired Luca's strength, but she realized that child-lock was on as Luca exited the car. She cried out as her fists hit the windows, eventually climbing up front. Luca slammed the door on her but she opened it up as he drew away the two gems. The bulky green gem summoned a sword and plunged it into Luca's leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Amber was kicked to the side as she tried to get to him.

"We need to finish the job, an Amber shouldn't get in our way," the green gem spoke, removing her sword and jabbing it into his thigh eliciting a shriek from Amber.

"You had better stop that!" she shouted, pinned down by the blue gem, "I will break your gems!"

As Luca was cut up several times, Amber knocked the blue gem off of her and removed the sword from her friend's side. She violently swung it into the green gem, poofing her instantly. The blue gem took a couple steps back, attempting to run away. However, the gem became aware of the fact that she had been stabbed. Amber's eyes glowed red under her visor as she ripped the blue gem in half.

More gems came from behind the corner as Amber left Luca on the ground. Her hands were covered with his blood; she knew he didn't have long left but that these gems needed to be taken care of. Amber started fighting, not stopping for several minutes while Luca bled out. When all of the gems had been defeated, Amber sprinted to Luca.

"Hey Amber, I never got to thank you for saving me earlier…" Luca coughed a little.

"No, I didn't do anything worth while. You are going to make it through the night, we are going to get help," Amber grabbed his cell phone, "I am going to call the service of healing now."

"It's 9-1-1…" Luca tried to pick himself up but saw the blood, "Oh gosh, how much am I bleeding?"

Police and an ambulance arrived within minutes and Amber still had the sword by her knees, "Hello, we are here to help a Luca. Would you mind telling me why you have a sword with you?"

"I used it to protect my friend…" Amber said as Luca was being lifted from where he lay, "Hey! Where are you taking him?"

"We are taking him to the hospital," the police officer said, "Did you have a hand in his injuries? You seem to have the only sword and he isn't here to testify."

"Let me go with him in the vehicle!" Amber wasn't doing much to help herself out but she only wanted to be with Luca, "I don't have to answer your questions."

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense," the lines seemed robotic as the officer finished speaking.

He walked behind the gem and started to put handcuffs on her, "Get your hands off of me!"

Amber turned around and kicked the officer in the head as he toppled to the ground. The green sword was on the other side of the car, but in fear, the officer fired six shots into Amber's body. She felt pain for only a few seconds, poofing into the air. Her gem clattered to the ground making the cop leap back.

"Guys, she charged me and then she turned into this here gem," the cop nudged it with his shoe.

"Oh, it's just an alien. We should give her to the scientists," another cop picked up the golden gem, "They are the enemy."

The cops dropped her gem off at some laboratory to be studied.

Within four hours, Amber mustered the strength to come out of her gem to a white room. She felt the walls; they were as hard as titanium. Two people in white coats walked in holding long poles with nooses at the end of them. Amber wasn't able to fight off the poles as the men led her to some gray room. She was lifted onto a table as the nooses were removed from her neck. Her arms were tied down to the table as she started to feel slight discomfort.

"Do you know why you are here?" a woman asked steadily.

Amber glared at her, "Certainly not out of the goodness of your black heart! Release me at once!"  
"Don't you know that gems damaged this planet permanently?" she walked closer to Amber and ran her hand from the gem's chest to her core, "We can't let you escape to hurt the Earth so we might as well experiment on you."

"I didn't do anything! I love the Earth, I don't want to hurt it…" Amber saw a sharp object being directed at her abdomen, "Please stop, I am not a bad gem!"

The knife dug into her flesh, "Hey, she developed a stomach and there is spaghetti in it. Maybe gems can develop other organs… Here, let's hook her up to the machine."

Amber's body attempted to regenerate but was halted as shocks of electricity raged through her body, "Please stop! I promise I won't fight you I will do whatever you want!"

The shocks stopped as her body regenerated, "Anything?"

"Yes…" Amber said, closing her eyes.

"Alright, let's put her into the fusion department," the woman ordered her people to untie Amber, who didn't fight at all, "Faze off your outfit, you will be dressed with our clothes now."

"Okay…" Amber hated this awful feeling of researchers staring at her bare body.

Her hair was cut until it was boy short as she was fitted into a blue gown. She was led into a long hallway full of small rooms, becoming pale as she saw the horrible states other gems were in. She tried to back up, but was shoved forward into a small, compact room.

Amber sat down and put her head to her exposed knees, waiting for the worst to happen. Several hours later, Amber was shoved to her feet and led into a big room. Other gems were being shoved together unwillingly while others just fused.

"Here is your partner, fuse with her," the researcher said as Amber tried to back away.

"I can't fuse, it's inappropriate," the tan gem continued to shake her head as the blue gem in front of her stepped forward, "Stop!"

 _"Just fuse with me…"_ the blue gem said telepathically while grabbing Amber's gown, _"It will all be over soon."_

Amber hadn't any idea how to fuse with another gem but she saw the other gems doing it. In the end, she wasn't able to fuse so the researchers forced her to after smashing her into the other gem.

The fusion was small but it roared loudly as it corrupted, _"What happened… We fused. Why would they make us fuse? They are studying our weaknesses. In a couple minutes, they will take us to another room."_

Amber felt herself being lost, why couldn't she be with Luca on the couch right now watching TV? All of a sudden violent thoughts raced through her head as she felt herself becoming angry.

 _"Let's take them all out…"_ Amber's side communicated, _"But then they will kill us… But, if we fight them hard enough with the other gems, they won't stand a chance. Okay, let's do that tomorrow. Alright."_

The fusion was ushered into a room and set on fire. Red flames raged around, Amber had never seen such things. Fear trickled through her but she was inspired to stay together by her new blue friend. She narrowed her eyes at the researchers and smiled widely, her sharp teeth glinting.

"A fusion hasn't been able to withstand this much heat without shattering yet," one of the researchers said, "Let's examine both parts of it."

 _"Are you okay?"_ Amber's side asked, _"Yes, while I am Tourmaline, I feel so powerful. Same, by the way what is your name? Turquoise… That's pretty. Don't worry, we will get out together. If you say so…"_

They were forcibly separated and each of the gems were put into different rooms. Amber was torn apart several times over as the researchers tried to figure out what made her heat resistant. She could only assume that Turquoise was being torn apart too. Tomorrow would be the day they fought back and escaped with the other gems.

Amber was prepared to hurt humans as she was too far gone from the side of light. The pain had finally persuaded her to want to escape at all costs. She was experimented on the whole night until the researchers left the room. Her body was still open, the one human organ she had bleeding out. Amber closed her eyes only for a second but she didn't wake up for a few hours. When she did, the peaceful images of Luca floated away.

The tan gem was shoved into the fusion room as Turquoise quickly communicated to all of the other gems. Instead of fusing, Amber walked to a researcher and formed a crooked knife from her gem. He tried to back away but the blunt object was plunged into his stomach.

"Do you like how that feels?" Amber asked, ripping the object out and kicking the researcher against the wall, "That was nice, right gems?"

"Yeah!" the gems in the laboratory started to fight against the researchers.

Amber ran down the hallway unlocking all of the doors, "Take them all out but don't kill them!"

She finished her rounds and walked back to the fusion room, the researchers had all been lined up against the wall and were being brutally beaten, "Stop! Don't kill them, we will be in much bigger trouble if they are killed!"

All of a sudden, the researchers fought back, hitting the gem's gems with metal baseball bats. Shards littered the room, and after five minutes, only Turquoise and Amber were left over. Three researchers were left standing. They ran at Turquoise who didn't want to fight them.

"You won't be performing those experiments anymore," Amber said while using her sword to injure the researchers.

"Amber! Stop, they are already gone…" Turquoise hugged the tan gem as she fell to her knees.

"I killed people… Humans…" tears rolled down her cheeks that had been injured the night before, "Did they deserve this?"

"Yes… They did deserve this," Turquoise stroked Amber's short hair, "Let's just get ourselves out of here and see Luca, okay?"

"Okay…" Amber stood up, "No. I am not going back to that life. Other gems need my help."

"But, maybe they will rebel too…" Turquoise said, "I won't fight the humans anymore."

"Then you can go to Luca," Amber stood, her hands were blood stained, she couldn't go see Luca now, "I am a murderer…"

Before Turquoise could say anything, Amber ran out of the room with a list of locations. The blue gem found Luca's hospital and visited his bedside.

He just woke up as she placed her hands on his chest, relieving some of his pain, "Thanks for the heal, who are you?"

"My name is Turquoise, I was at a laboratory with your friend, Amber…" Turquoise frowned, "She went crazy from all the blood we spilled to get out."

"Oh… is she going to come back?" Luca asked.

"I don't know but she took a map and wants to free the other locations. I decided to go to you instead of killing more people," Turquoise put her hands to her face, "It was horrible there… Amber got the same amount of torture as someone who has been there for a couple weeks in one night… They hurt us so much, we couldn't take it."

"I understand…" Luca took her small light blue hand, "Thanks for taking care of her. Do you want to stay with us until she comes back?"

"Sure," Turquoise looked into Luca's chocolate eyes, "She really likes you, you could change her…"

"I just need to recover first, I was kind of stabbed a few times…" Luca felt sleep calling him, "I am going to go to sleep, okay?"

"Alright," Turquoise noticed another human man in the room.

She walked over to him, "Hello, are you his uncle?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" the uncle replied.

"You don't look like his father or his brother…" Turquoise sat next to him, "Your nephew is the only person that can help Amber."

"I know, we just have to get him to her before she goes too far," the uncle saw how Turquoise only wore the bloody gown, "Do you want to change that?"

"I have forgotten how…" Turquoise responded.

"Just imagine what you used to wear and it will come to you," the uncle watched as Turquoise found her memories of what she was.

She returned wearing a sleeveless V-neck that let the gem on her chest be exposed and long black leggings, "You look great."

"Thanks…" Turquoise hugged the uncle, "You are so warm, I haven't felt this warm since I was made."

The uncle smoothed her black bangs out of her face, she only had one big yellow eye, "You are warm too. We can fix up Amber when the time comes."


	6. Redemption

"Please don't!" a man on his knees cried out, "Our research is impor-"

He collapsed as a tan girl in a short black dress slashed him twice, walking out of the room with blood dripping off her knife. In the next room, the devilish girl liberated other beings of all shapes and sizes and colors after a several small shouts of panic.

A small being was at her feet, "What are you doing? You can't expect to free all of us gems… Some of us are bad for the Earth!"

The tan gem roughly pushed her aside, "Learn to appreciate the freedom."

She picked herself up and ran out the exit doors, setting off the fire alarm. The tan gem continued walking into the other rooms as people screamed. They didn't deserve to be unscathed according to the gem so she had no qualms with hurting them. Her undersized dress gave her added confidence to do what she had to, but she made sure that no one died, only using her knife if someone got to close to her.

One day came when she freed the wrong place, a place for bad gems that had tried committing crimes and hurting the planet. An angered jail guard came up from behind her with bloody hands.

He groaned with pain rushing through his body, "Hey… You are an Amber right? Aren't you supposed to be docile and intelligent? You are being awful dumb for one…"

Amber turned aggressively around, "Human, you have no business keeping these gems caged in here everyday."

"Please, don't free any more of them… They are here for a reason…" Amber raised her knife at him, and he fell to his knees in a ball.

She turned away and walked out the exit door as emergency services rushed in. Her hair had darkened to black and the collar that had once been a tracker turned black and blue. Amber looked nothing like she had before; she felt mostly negative emotions sometimes having the feeling of confidence running through her. She only lived to free gems from labs and prisons, never thinking of the long term.

Amber pushed away the thoughts she had of her human, knowing that she would be unable to live with herself if she thought too much of him. She missed him dearly but knew she couldn't go back to regular life. Turquoise would frown upon her current actions. Her human would never agree with what she had done and how dark she had become.

She entered her next laboratory but this one was empty for some reason. All of a sudden, Amber felt herself being grabbed from behind with one arm. The gem bent her arm back and stabbed the person behind her in the stomach. They fell to their knees and Amber didn't dare turn around as she remembered the sound of the familiar pants.

"Amber… You stab pretty hard for a girl," the familiar voice said, lifting itself up, "That almost hurt."

Amber turned around, her red eyes fading to orange under her visor, "L-Luca is that you?"

"Yes, I have come to get you, it has been a month since you have been gone," Luca took off his bullet-proof vest, "This sure came in handy today, didn't it."

"What month is it," Amber asked slowly, making sure not to show her face, "Have you been searching for me all this time?"  
"It's October and Turquoise helped me clear out this place," Luca grabbed her arm, "Amber we have been searching for you in whatever free time we had. Stay with us."

"I-I can't," Amber shook off Luca's hand and started to walk forward, "I can never go back to the life I shared with you. Please leave, the control I have over my body will fade away soon. Run, now!"

"No," Luca said, walking closer and closer to her, "I will stay here with you. Everyone misses you, Amber, you have to come home."

Amber lost herself in some kind of pain, falling backwards. She looked down and saw a couple inches of a sword sticking out. The tan gem's eyes reverted to red as she stood up, turned around and ripped the blade from her mid torso. Her attacker slashed at her again, but she stopped the sword with her knife. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she smacked the yellow gem around. It was corrupted, so she was a little bit less gentle with it.

After she had finished defeating the gem, she turned around to see Luca's face. He beckoned her to come closer, but she worried she would hurt him. Amber tried to calm herself down, but all of her attempts failed as Luca got closer and closer to her. Her eyes glinted red as she charged at him, the wound in her chest searing. Luca knocked the knife out of her hand and threw it to the side. She growled, but managed to get some of the anger out of her system.

"Just trust me," Luca said slowly, "Come back to me, I want to see if you are okay."

"No," Amber said, losing herself in her overwhelming power, "Luca stay where you are, don't come any closer. I almost killed you."

Luca didn't listen, calmly walking towards the gem. He put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to lightly shudder at the contact. She turned around, feeling herself release the darkness that she had unknowingly been holding onto. Her hair returned to orange as her dress turned white. Amber looked down and instantly blocked her stomach.

"Looking kind of skimpy there, Amber," Luca said, "Did you know that it exposed that much of your stomach?"

"N-No… I mean, yes…" Amber looked away, ashamed at herself.

"Do you want my jacket, Miss, my dress opens up all the way down to my gem?" Luca grinned as Amber tried to scratch at him, "Better not mess up your dress."

"Give me your jacket!" Amber said indignantly.

"Here you go," Luca responded, passing the desired object to Amber.

"Thanks…" Amber put the jacket on and the two walked out of the building.

Turquoise immediately jumped onto Amber as soon as she closed the door, "Oh my gosh, Amber! How are you? You are wounded!"

"I am fine!" Amber hugged Turquoise and spun her around in a circle as they fused together.

Luca fell on his knees, "Whoa! You two should get a room!"

" _What happened? We fused again! I guess it was because we were happy,"_ Tourmaline turned to Luca.

"I don't like the way you are looking at me," Luca was picked up by the fusion,

"Want a ride home?" Tourmaline asked the boy in her arms, "It is going to be way more fun than you think."

"Okay, but what about my car?" Luca asked the giant woman.

"We will carry it home for you," Tourmaline said, picking up the vehicle with one of her large hands.

Luca sat back, he felt relieved that Amber's rescue had gone so smoothly. He closed his eyes; Atlanta was fairly nice this time of year. October was always his favorite month as the trees changed so rapidly from bright chartreuse greens to golden yellows, oranges, and browns. It reminded him of his parents' passing which was confirmed by Turquoise and Peridot to have been a mission of finishing off the humans that had discovered the Kindergarten and reported it to the Crystal Gems. He occasionally missed California, its warmth and its many nice beaches. Luca wanted to go to one, but he had never quite gotten the skills to maneuver the water without drowning. Maybe he could take Amber and Turquoise to the beach one day.

"Luca… Wake up…" Luca heard a familiar voice.

He tried to move, but just couldn't, "What's on me? I can't move."

Turquoise giggled, "Amber is sleeping on top of you. We got home a couple hours ago."

"Oh, what should I do?" Luca tried to lift his heavy hand.

"Hm… You should wake her up," Turquoise said, smiling, "Or I could do it if you want."

"No, I will do it," Luca tried to sit up again, "Hey Amber, wake up."

Amber yawned, but picked herself up, "Good whatever time, Luca."

She was still on top of him, "Amber, do you know where you are?"

Amber looked down and jumped off hurriedly, "Sorry about that, you were just so warm."

"That's alright," Luca picked himself up, "You found a way to change your outfit?"

Amber smiled and spun around, "Yeah."

"You look great," Luca paused, "Wait, how did you fix that injury?"

"I regenerated it with help from Turquoise," Amber said, "She taught me to focus on healing it for a while until it dissipates small enough to let it heal naturally."

"Alright," Luca smiled, "Does it still hurt?"

"Just a little," Amber replied, "I don't mind it."

All of a sudden, Amber wrapped her arms around him. He felt her warmth and he placed his hands on her uncovered back. Turquoise giggled, her friends finally hugged each other. She loved to see love developing in between two compatible people. Luca then tugged the blue gem into the hug, completing the group.

"Is it almost Halloween?" Turquoise asked after the hug broke apart, "We should all be matching!"

"What is Halloween?" Amber wondered aloud.

"Halloween is when monsters come out to eat you," Luca paused watching Amber's reaction, "Well actually, you dress up and go to houses to get candy. I am a bit too old for this so I will just watch you guys and eat your candy."

"When is it again?" Turquoise asked giddily.

"It is October 31st, so we still have some time to get our costumes," Luca said, "Think Amber would like candy?"

"I haven't the faintest idea but she likes pasta right?" Turquoise responded.

Amber thought about pasta and had horrible flashbacks, sitting on the floor of Luca's room. Had the pasta been removed from her stomach? She had no idea but wanted to figure it out.

"Hey Turquoise, when we were Tourmaline, did you feel food in our stomach?" Amber asked her concerned friend.

"Yeah," Turquoise said, putting her hand on Amber's shoulder, "It was pasta… Wait, do you only have a stomach?"

"I formed one a while ago, apparently I have never digested it," Amber said slowly standing up, "Do you have more organic parts?"

"Yes, I do," Turquoise said, "We met with other Crystal Gems a while ago who found your location and helped us clear out the laboratory!"

"You did?" Amber was dumb-founded; a lot had gone on while she was away, "What were their names?"

"Hm, one was Emerald, another was Jewel and the other two were Azurite and Vexus," Turquoise smiled, "One had so many organic parts, it was almost human!"

"Whoa, that's odd," Amber walked to the door, "I want to go see the caretaker!"

"Alright, I am pretty sure he was asleep though," Turquoise said, "He has been very stressed since you left."

Amber ran to the back room followed by Luca and Turquoise, "Caretaker! Guess who is back?"

The caretaker sat up in his bed and looked at Amber, rubbing his eyes in disbelief, "You're here."

He walked up to the tan gem, "What are you wearing?"

Amber blushed, "I can't change my outfit…"

"What did you do?" the caretaker asked.

"I hurt many people…" Amber replied, avoiding eye contact.

The caretaker raised his hand and slapped Amber's cheek, "I missed you…"

Amber wrapped her arms around the caretaker lovingly. She missed his warmth, but she missed him the most. The two hugged for a couple minutes, talking quietly about what she did. Tears rushed down Amber's face as she was comforted.

Her face stung, but it was worth it to experience this much warmth from a person. When the hug broke apart, Amber followed the caretaker to the dinner table.

"Hey Luca, want to make a welcome back cake?" the caretaker asked his nephew.

"Sure. Gosh it's late," Luca smiled as he looked to Amber who was totally oblivious of the meaning of a cake, "Good thing it's the weekend, right guys?"

"Yup," Turquoise said, smiling at the caretaker.

Within the next hour, a chocolate cake was made. After setting it down on the table, Amber took a couple sniffs.

"This is a cake," Luca said, "We are sharing it with you for a Homecoming present."

"Thank you," Amber said, staring at the beautiful brown cake in the caretaker's hands.

"You are very welcome," the uncle smiled.

Amber saw the caretaker lift the knife as she, Turquoise, and Luca sat down. The caretaker cut the cake slowly; making sure each piece was equal. He then passed the pieces out, sitting himself down.

"Enjoy!" the caretaker smiled.

Amber lifted her fork, it was a while since she had used one and was slightly shaky. She took a small bite of the cake and placed it in her mouth. The gem swallowed the delicious morsel and quickly devoured the rest of her piece, holding her plate up.

"You want more?" the caretaker asked, "It is very filling."

"Yesh!" Amber said, "Ish my favorish!"

"Oh my, here you go," the caretaker gave her the remainder of the cake and sat down to read the newspaper.

Luca finished his piece by the time Amber had finished the cake. Turquoise wondered how her friend would feel later, but she gladly gave her the other half of her piece. Amber suddenly started to look sick, her cheeks flushing greenish blue.

"What's happening?" the tan gem asked, holding her stomach.

"You gorged, look at your tummy…" Turquoise said, whispering unspecified details in her friend's ear, "You will feel better after."

"Thanks, I will do that," Amber said, running to the bathroom.

"I wonder what the other half of the Crystal Gems is doing…" Luca said aloud.

"Same," Turquoise responded, "Maybe they will come visit. They told us they were going home after they finished clearing the laboratory."

"Yeah, right now, they are probably messing around with something," Turquoise said thoughtfully, "Especially Emerald… She is fairly sarcastic and loves to pull the Vex's leg."

"Yup," Luca heard the bathroom door open.

Amber returned from the bathroom, "Guess what?"

"You went to the restroom?" Luca replied.

"No, I grew my hair out again!" Amber said, her cheeks still flushed.

"Oh," Luca said turning around, "Did you use the restroom?"

"Right!" Amber said, running back to the bathroom.

"She is silly, isn't she?" Turquoise asked Luca.

"Silly but sweet," Luca responded as Amber came back.

"The duty has been done!" Amber said happily.

"Too much information!" Luca said, jokingly, "Your hair looks nice."

"Thanks, Luca," Amber replied.

"Hey Luca," the uncle asked, holding the newspaper, "Do you want to get a pet?"

"We already have Amber, don't we?" Luca responded, eliciting laughs from all but the tan gem herself.

"Hey!" Amber growled, "That's not fair!"


	7. In Reality

**A/N: Sorry for the lateness! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

"Hey Amber! You should try on this witch costume!" Turquoise said, rather loudly.

"Okay!" the gem ran to her friend, "It looks really nice, are you sure I should try it on?"

"You should try it on, I am sure you will look great in it," Luca smiled, "We can buy decorations for the house, but I am setting up a budget. Five hundred dollars is enough for three costumes and a couple decorations."

"Alright," Turquoise said, "Luca, you are going to wear this witch dress too!"

"What? I am a guy and wearing a dress is not my thing," Luca responded, "How about you wear the yellow and orange witch dress."

"Fine by me, but we have to find something for you!" Turquoise said, cheerfully.

"Is a witch only female?" Amber asked.

"Yeah," Luca paused, "The male version is a wizard."

"Okay, then how about this?" Amber picked up a long cloak with a pointy black hat, "Is this good?"

"Yes, actually," Luca smiled, "Let's go try on our outfits and meet back out here."

After they had finished trying on their outfits, the group met up to decide whether or not the costumes were keepers. Turquoise's witch costume suited her as it complemented her light blue skin. Amber's witch costume ended up floating her boat, as it was silky and pretty. Luca's was fine enough to make the other two girls happy. They got into their regular clothes and Amber and Turquoise looked for decorations. Twenty minutes later, the gems had finished picking things out. When Luca paid for everything, he noticed that the girls hadn't spent his entire budget, only $375.87. He decided to save the rest for a treat for the two later. The gems ended up carrying three of the bags each, Luca only having to carry one.

They had barely gotten through the door when the caretaker rushed to greet them. He smiled at the seven bags, but frowned when he looked to Luca.

"Something came for you today…" the uncle said slowly, "Can you two go into the back room for a couple minutes?"

"Yes," Amber said, walking to the back of the house followed by Turquoise.

"So what came?" Luca asked carefully.

"Nothing came, I just wanted to talk to you alone," the uncle's eyes drifted away from Luca, "Wendy still has the key to our house… I think she stole some money… We are missing ten thousand dollars."

"Oh my," Luca was shocked, "Why would Wendy do that?"

"I don't know, maybe she is jealous of Amber," the uncle replied, "Are you dating her?"

Luca thought about the previous events at Steven's house, "No and I am not going to."

"Alright," the uncle said, "Well, you should talk to Wendy and see if she actually stole the money…"

"Okay," Luca replied, he regretted having to talk to the girl, but knew he had to do so, "I will go get the gems."

Luca walked off as the uncle sighed and sat down. They had brought home a lot of decorations to add to the already existing small supply. Within hours, the house had been turned into a Halloween zone on the inside and the out. Amber, Luca, and Turquoise smiled at the masterpiece they had created and the uncle was amazed at how well the house was decorated.

Luca ate his lunch of a tuna sandwich and chips, Amber and Turquoise messing around outside. After he finished, he walked outside to find that the two gems had gotten themselves onto the roof.

"Need another friend?" Luca jokingly called up to Amber.

"No!" Amber replied as Turquoise giggled at Luca.

"Okay," Luca said, "I will be right back!"

"Fine," Amber said, continuing to converse with Turquoise.

When Luca got inside, he walked to his uncle, "I am going to see Wendy now."

"Alright, be careful and good luck," the uncle said.

The door closed and Luca walked up the street a few blocks. He braced himself at Wendy's acacia door and knocked several times.

An old woman with gray hair answered, "Hello Luca, are you here to see Wendy?"

"Yeah," Luca said, Wendy's mother was a kind lady who always understood things.

She invited him in and he walked through the threshold to see Wendy sitting on the couch. He sat next to her and placed his hand on hers.

"Hey Wendy, do you still have the key to our house?" Luca asked as Wendy's mom walked off.

"Yeah, I went to your house a bit ago and took what was mine. I didn't know you had other women with you," Wendy said, "You are a cruel little boy!"

"My friend is actually a magical being and not really a woman… I hardly knew her back then," Luca tried to smile, "Can I have the money back?"

"Sure," Wendy smiled, "Can you tell me more about this magical girl?"

"Well, her name is Amber and she is hostile when she first meets someone, but is actually very friendly," Luca said thoughtfully, "She is a good friend."

"You love her don't you?" Wendy asked, "I can tell by the way you talk about her."

"I don't know if I do…" Luca replied.

"Okay, here is all of the money," Wendy smiled, handing him the green paper from her pocket.

"Thanks, can I also have the key?" Luca asked.

"Come back next week and you can have it back," Wendy smiled.

"Alright, I will be taking my leave," Luca said, standing up.

He walked to the door and closed it, walking faster back to his house. Wendy always gave off weird vibes when she was angry.

When Luca arrived home, his uncle immediately greeted him. He handed the money quietly over and told him that Wendy didn't want to give up the key. Luca walked outside and looked up on the roof, the gems were still there.

"Are you sure you don't want an extra friend up there?" he shouted.

"If you can get up, you can stay with us!" Amber said back.

Turquoise looked down on Luca, "I don't think he is going to be able to get up with just one arm…"

"If he can drive eleven hours, he can climb up," Amber replied.

Luca struggled for several minutes, trying to carry the ladder over. He leaned it against the roof and quickly climbed up the rungs. At last, he was with the gems. Turquoise patted the spot next to her and Luca obliged, Amber scooting closer to him.

"What are you two doing up here?" he asked, looking at some blue prints, hidden by Amber's leg.

"You weren't supposed to get up here!" Amber said, "But now that you are, we were drawing stuff on a piece of paper."

"Can I see?" Luca pondered.

"Nope," Turquoise smiled, "They are a surprise for you."

"Ack! Don't tell him!" Amber said.

"Alright, I guess that is what a surprise is…" Turquoise leaned on Luca and communicated to him, _"Isn't she darling, she is making you something wonderful."_

 _"Yeah,"_ Luca communicated back.

The three hung out for a couple hours, coming down when the caretaker called them in for dinner. Luca and his uncle ate pasta with marinara sauce while Amber and Turquoise drank tea.

"We have school tomorrow, Amber," Luca smiled, "Turquoise doesn't go though, I don't know why."

"I like to stay here with your uncle and help out on the farm," the light blue gem smiled.

"There we go," Luca grinned, "Anyways, we are going to have to deal with Alex tomorrow."

Amber winced, "Okay."

"On the bright side, Halloween is next week!" Luca said.

"Hooray!" Turquoise said.

"Yeah…" Amber frowned; thinking about Alex was the last thing she wanted to do.

After dinner, the group decided an early night was best and went to their beds. Turquoise and Amber slept together under the covers of Amber's blue bed.

In the morning, Amber couldn't find Turquoise in the house. She went outside to check and found her friend humming to herself. Amber snuck up behind her and hugged her from behind.

"How are you doing?" Amber asked.

"Fine," Turquoise responded, "Look at the sunrise."

"It's beautiful," Amber, said, awestruck at the way the golden clouds caressed the sky.

On the way to school, Amber and Luca saw Alex. The tan gem got closer to Luca and wrapped her arm around his. They walked faster to class as the first bell rang.

The seats had changed and Luca was now sitting diagonal from Amber in the middle of the classroom. Amber heard rumors about herself coming from around the room, but didn't care much. She diligently did her math, and when the class was over, she said goodbye to Luca and walked to her second class.

Rita frowned at her, but she didn't care and sat next to the girl.

"Hey, how are you?" Amber smiled.

"I am doing great!" Rita said, "My grades are still much better than yours."

"Okay," Amber said, looking to her book, "Oh wow! I remember a lot of this stuff."

Rita looked away, she still felt slightly guilty about what she indirectly did to Amber, "Hey, about the note I gave you…"

"It's okay, I forgive you," Amber said, "How about you be my study buddy?"

"I didn't apologize! But okay," the red haired girl was secretly happy.

The class went on with Rita helping Amber with learning about history. Amber liked Rita's non-hostile personality and the two became quick friends over the class period.

After class, Amber ran off looking for Luca in the lunchroom. She sat next to him and stared at his food that he had gotten from the cafeteria.

"Can I have some?" Amber asked as Luca pulled out a second fork and placed it in her hand, "Thanks. Oh guess what? I made friends with Rita!"

"You are very welcome," Luca put down his fork, "Wait what?"

"Yeah, she is going to be my study buddy!" Amber said, getting a mouthful of peas and carrots.

"Hmm, are you sure about being her friend?" Luca asked, "Don't you remember how she tricked you into seeing Alex?"

"That's okay, she felt really bad about it, plus Alex won't be bothering us again," Amber smiled, taking another mouthful and feeling full.

"Are you done eating?" Luca asked.

"Yeah," Amber replied, "Want to go to class early?"

"Sure," Luca said, finishing his tray.

The two walked to their classroom and sat down in front of the room next to each other. Amber was apparently placed next to Luca on the seating chart so they didn't have to move when the teacher walked in.

Class started, but someone was missing, Alex. He was late as he walked into the classroom, but didn't hesitate to walk over to Amber's desk.

"Hey hot stuff, want to meet in back of the building again?" he said, about to touch Amber.

Luca smacked his hand away, "Alex, keep your hands off her. You almost performed a horrible act with a girl last month. You should have been suspended, but the school took mercy on you."

"Oh well, I am dating your ex by the way…" Alex smiled crookedly, "You should let me have your girl already."

Amber frowned, "What's that in your pocket?"

"Oh, this?" Alex said evilly pulling out a familiar object, "Wendy gave it to me."

The tan gem stood up, "Who is Wendy?"

"Luca's ex girlfriend," Alex said slowly.

"Alex can you sit down? Class has already started," the teacher almost pleaded.

"No, I have to expose Amber for what she really is!" Alex pointed the device at the gem.

"P-Please no, I haven't done anything wrong for a while now!" Amber said, taking a few steps back.

All of a sudden, Amber could only feel pain as her vision turned to white, "Luca, help me!"

Luca grabbed the device, "What, you like my destabilizer, Luca? You can use it if you like."

The students and teacher watched as Amber's body fell apart. Luca let go of the destabilizer and caught Amber's gem, holding it in his hands.

"I got you, I am so sorry Amber," Luca hugged her gem to his chest.

Alex pointed the destabilizer at Luca, but it didn't affect him at all, "See, he is human and this device doesn't work on humans. It only works on alien life forms."

Luca sat down and hid the golden teardrop in his shirt pocket. He regretted not being able to protect her.

"Alex, don't ever hurt another student like that again. Okay class, let's resume doing what schools are meant to do, teach kids like you," the teacher felt pity and looked to Luca, "Is your friend going to be okay?"

"Yes…" Luca said as he heard whispers around the classroom.

After an hour and a half, Amber's gem started to glow. Luca struggled to pull her out of his shirt pocket as her light glowed through his pocket. She floated in front of the class and her mannequin formed, slowly giving her characteristics.

"Stop what you are doing Alex!" Amber said, dropping to the ground and suddenly realizing he was not in front of her, "Uh hi everyone."

"Welcome back, Amber," the teacher said, "Alex, you owe her an apology."

"But she isn't human, she doesn't matter," Alex said, walking up to Amber, "Her whole body is light, she can't feel pain! Just watch."

Alex took a pen and stabbed it into Amber's stomach as she doubled in pain, "Why do you humans keep on destroying my form?"

"Does it hurt though?" Alex asked.

"Yes! Very much so!" Amber said, "Luca can I end his stupid life?"

"Sadly you can't, but I can send him to the principal's office," the teacher said, "Go on, Alex, that's your call."

Alex stomped off to the office, slamming the door. Amber felt her stomach, the pen was still there, thankfully it had missed her gem. She looked to the class as loud talking started to surround her.

"Yes, I am a gem, my gem is an amber, most obviously," Amber said as the talking silenced, "That's why I am wearing this strange outfit and why my body is made of light. Homeworld rejected me so I am going to stay here. I hope you all will let me stay."

The class murmured until a girl called out, "You are cool, you can stay!"

Amber bowed and the teacher spoke, "Of course you can stay, I knew you were a gem all along."

Bowing hurt her stomach, but she held it for a little while until the applause stopped. When she stood up straight, Amber almost collapsed, but was halted by Luca's arm. The bell rang three times and class was over as students poured out saying goodbye to Amber and Luca.

"I got you," he said, picking her up with one arm, "Let's go home now, okay?"

"O-Kay," Amber said, "I am going to rest for a bit…"

"Hey teacher? Can you call my uncle for me?" Luca asked.

"Yeah, sure," the teacher did so and the uncle was going to pick the two up, "Hey Luca? I know a couple of gems around here, if you see them, can you give the tall yellow one this?"

"Sure, teach," Luca said, "Well, we are off."

"Bye!" the teacher said, waving.

Luca got into his uncle's car after laying Amber in the back of the car. After they got home, Turquoise was astounded to see the damage. The pen was still in the wound, so Luca pulled it out quickly, eliciting a groan.

"Amber, it's me Turquoise, we are going to staple your wound together," Turquoise stroked her friend's hair, "You are really brave, okay?"

The tan gem yelped several times as she was stapled in three places. Her body went limp after the pain became too much to bear.

Several hours later, Amber woke up in her bed. She touched her stomach; it was completely healed. Turquoise sat next to her and placed her hand on Amber's forehead.

"You look much better, Luca is at work right now," Turquoise smiled, "The caretaker made you some soup."

"Delicious," Amber sat herself up, "Where did the staples go?"

"We took them out after your body regenerated," Turquoise said.

"Let's go to the kitchen then," Amber said, getting up and walking out the door with Turquoise.

The caretaker was brewing up something that smelled like chicken, but Amber was forbidden to see it. She sat down at the table next to Turquoise and messed around with her spoon.

"Thanks for saving me guys," Amber said slowly.

A bowl was placed on the table and soup was slowly poured in, the steam circling it like a hawk.

"You are very welcome, now enjoy this," the caretaker said, sitting down next to Amber.

The tan gem dipped her spoon and pulled out the golden liquid, "This looks nice."

She tried the soup and quickly finished it, not leaving a drop behind. For some reason, the gem enjoyed food even though her race technically didn't need it to survive anymore. Amber thanked the caretaker for the meal and waited for Luca to get home.

When he returned, the first thing he saw was Amber. She jumped onto him, hugging him to the ground. He hugged her back as she closed her eyes as his warmth surrounded her. So many things had been cleared today in school, Alex had been probably been suspended, the class accepted her, and she made friends with Rita. Overall, it had been a good day for the tan gem.


	8. Trust Placed

Three days before Hallow's Eve, Amber found herself having trouble sleeping. Nightmares would often shroud her head the second her eyes closed. She hadn't told anyone about it, but it had become apparent to her bedmate, Turquoise.

"What have you been dreaming about Amber?" the light blue gem asked, "You are always tossing and turning."

"I have been sleeping fine," Amber responded, rubbing her eyes and stretching in the blue bed.

"It doesn't seem like it," Turquoise said, rolling out of bed, hitting the floor, "Ouch."

Amber looked over the edge, "I have been having dreams about Alex even though he got suspended… He is dating Luca's old partner…"

"Yikes, I am sure things will clear up," Turquoise said, pulling Amber on top of her.

The tan gem hugged her friend and got up, helping Turquoise up, "Let's go get some breakfast."

"Sounds good," Turquoise said.

The two sat at the table, no one was out yet so Amber and Turquoise went to the barn.

"Doesn't this look off to you?" Amber asked, handing a mechanical object to Turquoise, "The metal in the bendy part isn't fixed yet so maybe that could be the problem."

"You could also try to rotate it a little bit," Turquoise responded, narrowing her eyes, "Do we have the wires yet?"

"Yeah, I just haven't attached them…" Amber said, "Do you think Luca will be happy?"

"Probably," Turquoise said, "That Vex gave us the right gift didn't she?"

"She is a technical genius like me," Amber said.

Turquoise and Amber walked back into the house, discovering that the caretaker and Luca were still asleep. They decided to make a breakfast of waffles and orange juice. Luca and the caretaker could smell the cooking from their rooms so they walked out slowly.

"Something smells delicious in here," Luca said, sitting in his seat.

"Waffles," Amber said, serving him and the caretaker their dishes.

"Wow! This is great!" Luca said, taking a bite, "Did you make it with syrup in the mix?"

"Yeah," Amber said, "We are glad that you like them."

After the guys had finished their meals, Luca and Amber left for school. They didn't see Alex or Wendy on their way, but the two didn't mind it.

It was an easy school day, no tests or quizzes. Amber brought Rita to the lunch table to eat with her and Luca. Today, she didn't feel like herself but she still pretended like nothing was wrong. Luca's gift was almost finished yet something was missing.  
When school got out, Amber and Luca walked home and hung out for a while at the house. The caretaker had some business to take care of so he decided to bring Turquoise with him, leaving the gem and the boy alone at home. At five, Luca had to go to work so he said his goodbye to Amber and locked the door. The gem enjoyed the quiet for a couple hours as she sat on the couch and stuck nerve wires into the metallic object.

All of a sudden, Amber heard the doorknob rustle. She became excited, the uncle and Turquoise were back! However, it was not her friends. A strange dark-haired girl walked in and stood before Amber.

"So you are the girl that stole Luca's heart," she said, "Or should I say alien?"

"Uh, who are you?" Amber asked, hopping off the couch and standing up straight, "Why did you come here?"

"I wanted to get a good look at you," the girl said, "Come here."

Amber took a few steps back, the screen door was slightly open and she could make a run for it, "No. Are you Wendy?"

"Maybe," the girl said, "Don't run away, I don't want to hurt you."

"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Amber said, her eyes darting to the screen door.

"Me and him," the girl said, pointing to the screen door.

Amber turned around and saw Alex, "I can kill both of you!"

"No you can't," the girl smiled, "You don't have that ability anymore…"

"How would you know-" Amber said.

"I saw videos of you online," the girl said, stroking her long dark hair, "I wonder what happened to your chest and your hair? You look nothing like you did."

Amber looked down and blushed, "At least I have Luca!"

"Oh, really?" the girl said, "Will he like you after tonight?"

"Tonight?" Amber asked.

Everything went black as Amber fell to her knees. She woke up in the barn on a hay bale within a couple minutes and picked herself up. The dark-haired girl and Alex were standing right in front of her with an orange container.

"Do you think aliens can take human narcotics, Alex?" the girl asked.

"Yes, Wendy," Alex replied.

"What are you going to do to me?" Amber asked frantically.

Wendy got closer and closer to Amber as the gem shivered. For some reason, the tan gem couldn't move even though she willed herself to. The dark-haired girl's hand cupped her mouth and Amber felt something go down her throat. She tried to cough whatever it was up, but she wasn't able to. Alex pulled her off of the hay bale as she struggled to stay on her feet. The gem staggered over to Wendy and took her key.

"Hey! Give that back!" Wendy said, "I need to be able to come back again!"

Amber wasn't thinking and swallowed the key whole, "Sucks… for you."

Wendy punched her in the stomach, "Here, Amber you can have some more drugs!"

The dark-haired girl pushed a few pills into Amber's mouth, "Silly human… these don't affect me at all…"  
"They don't?" Wendy asked sarcastically, "Then that means you want more?"

"I have no idea," Amber said dizzily.

"Then here you go!" Wendy said cramming more pills into Amber's mouth.

Amber choked on the pills but was forced to swallow. Wendy and Alex led her outside to the front yard and spun her around a few times.

Things started to change color and turn into strange shapes. The tan gem had turned around, but Alex and Wendy were no longer there. She dizzily tried to find the way back to her house, but she couldn't focus enough. Amber walked straight for a ways and bumped into a supposedly brick wall. She felt so lost as she sunk to her knees and cried. Finally, she found the courage to get up and continue searching. The tan gem stepped off of something, but she couldn't see what.

Luca came up behind her, but his face was distorted so she backed away. She couldn't understand the voice of this strange creature as the strange colors faded to almost normal. Her head shook, trying to clear itself. The gem ran into the street in confusion while the colors cleared at last. Luca was next to her, yelling at her to get out of the street. She took his hand and the two walked out of the road as Amber collapsed.

Her whole body trembled in pain as it struggled to rid itself of the substance. Luca had no idea what had happened to her; he had just gotten home from work when he saw her wandering outside. He checked her eyes, they were dull, something terrible happened to her.

"Amber, can you talk to me?" Luca asked, "I think someone poisoned you, can you nod your head for yes or shake it for no?"  
Amber nodded and croaked out the words, "Wendy Alex."

"Oh no," Luca said, "Everything is going to be okay, was it narcotics?"

Amber nodded several times, "Painful."

"I am going to move you, okay?" Luca asked, stroking Amber's hair.

The tan gem nodded as her friend lifted her now limp body and carried her home. The door was still unlocked, but now Turquoise and the caretaker were there. They wondered why it was open and where the others were, but just hung out until they got home. Turquoise ran over to Amber and asked what happened, but Luca could only say that Wendy and Alex poisoned her.

She was rushed to the nearest hospital after a couple debates between Turquoise, the caretaker, and Luca. Turquoise saw Alex and Wendy standing around the hospital building so they told the uncle that they were going to talk to them.

"Do you want to do the same thing again? Think she will fall for it?" Alex asked Wendy.

"Yeah, gems aren't that bright," Wendy replied, "Crud Luca saw us!"

Wendy and Alex disappeared quickly out of Luca's sight, but the him and Turquoise ran around town together, searching for them. Eventually they found them in an alley and called the police. However, both teenagers had knives on them. They charged as hard as they could, but missed both times. Turquoise left hooked Wendy in the cheek and she fell to her knees. Luca kicked Alex hard in the jaw and he toppled to the ground. Within minutes the police came and collected the two teenagers and found out that the two had an extensive record of crime.

They found the caretaker and were driven to the hospital to hang out with Amber and several hours later, her stomach had been pumped and she was getting much better. The heart monitor was disconnected, as the doctors weren't getting a heartbeat even though she was definitely breathing. Luca had gotten both Alex and Wendy sent to Juvenile Hall for forcing drugs down a person's throat and for many other crimes. When Amber woke up, she saw Luca sleeping in a chair.

The tan gem lightly stroked his blond hair, accidentally waking him up, "Hi Luca."

"How are you feeling?" the one-armed boy asked.

"Good," Amber said, "Halloween is so close! I want to eat all of the candy."

"Alright," Luca said, "You just need to rest for a bit."

"Fine," Amber frowned, "I will do just that, but first, this."

She sat up and leaned in to Luca, holding his cheek, "I lo-"

Turquoise walked into the room and Amber pulled away, "Hey Amber, guess what? Me and Luca beat Alex and Wendy to the ground when they tried to "shank" us!"

"Whoa," Amber said thoughtfully, "You avenged me!"

"Yup!" Turquoise jumped onto Amber's bed and wrapped her long light blue arms around the gem, "It's only going to be like a day and a half till Halloween!"

"Hooray!" Amber said, hopping out of the hospital bed, "Do you guys know where my visor is?"

"Oh, it's right here," Turquoise said, "Your eyes look prettier without it."

"Th-Thanks," Amber said, but she still put on her visor.

"Guess I should give up on making you rest, Amber," Luca smiled.

"Yup!" Amber grinned.

A day later Halloween had begun. Turquoise and Amber carved their own pumpkins while Luca made pumpkin pie and roasted the seeds the gems had collected. Dinner consisted of mashed potatoes, green beans, and pumpkin cider. After they had finished, Turquoise, Amber, and Luca changed into their costumes.

They spent the night hunting for candy collecting over twenty pounds of it. The time for trick-or-treating was finally over and the gems headed back home. Amber and Turquoise tried to eat all of the candy at once, but it didn't work out so well so they took it to their rooms.

"They sure had a good time, didn't they?" the uncle asked Luca.

"Yup," the one-armed boy responded, "I think Amber tried to tell me something at the hospital, but she was never able to."

"Oh," the uncle frowned, "Well I am sure that it is nothing negative."

"Yeah," Luca grinned and looked around, "I am guessing that the gems fell asleep."

The caretaker nodded and Luca quietly walked into Amber's room. Turquoise and the tan gem were snuggling up against each other but the blanket had fallen onto the floor. Luca picked it up and placed it gently onto the two gems, lightly touching Amber's cheek.

He walked into his bedroom and collapsed into his bed, falling asleep instantly. In the morning, he awoke to Amber shaking him awake.

"What's up Amber?" he asked as the tan gem brought out a wrapped object.

"This is for you!" Amber smiled, unwrap it.

"Okay," Luca unwrapped the gift and set his eyes on a strange piece of technology, "Is this an arm?"

"Yeah," Amber said, "I am going to help you get it on."

"Alright," Luca said, giving Amber his left stump.

Amber shoved the robotic arm onto Luca's stump eliciting a groan of pain. She attached the nerve wires into the bone and anything she could find. The arm shook erratically, but Luca got the hang of it within minutes.

"Thank you so much, Amber!" Luca said, standing up, "Maybe it will be easier to pick you up now."

He picked up the tan gem with both arms as she smiled, "I am so glad that you like it!"

Luca set her down, "It's going to be so much easier to deal with life with a second arm!"

"Yes, but be careful, don't use the arm when it's cold outside. I am working on making the metal cold proof but that will take a while," Amber yawned, "Well, I am going back to sleep."

"What time is it?" Luca asked.

"Three AM," the tan gem smiled, "Oh and you can sleep with the arm, it still needs time to calibrate."

"Alright," Luca laid back down as Amber left, he had never known that Amber would make an arm for him.

He slept until he was awoken by the smell of breakfast. It was porridge, one of his favorite things to eat. Amber was by the pot, wearing her light blue apron, stirring while everyone else was asleep still.

Luca stood next to her, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Amber said, "Did you sleep well with your arm?"  
"Not really, but I will get used to it," he said, "Where is Turquoise?"

"She went to go sleep with the caretaker…" Amber said thoughtfully, "She has something against sleeping alone."

"She was probably traumatized by the lab," Luca said as Amber nodded, "They will come out when they're ready."

Amber put the spoon down and turned to Luca, her apron delicately turning too. She cupped his cheeks and got on her tiptoes, leaning in to his face.

"I love you," she said, placing a kiss on his lips.

"I love you too," Luca said, "But it can't be like this, we are totally different."

"I know, but can't we try?" Amber almost begged as she took off her visor.

"Okay," Luca said, kissing her lips several times, "Why does this feel like destiny?"

"Not sure," Amber said as her blue eyes twinkled, hugging Luca, "It just does."


	9. Fallen Rock

Amber paced around, all of her Halloween candy had been devoured, but the morning a couple days ago stuck in her head. She was glad that Wendy and Alex had been silenced but she knew something else would probably go awry. Luca's arm could fatally injure him; she could run into more trouble or fail a test. Things on Earth were much different than on Homeworld, they could change much easier. Turquoise walked out of the caretaker's room and jumped onto Amber.

"Whoa!" Amber said excitedly, "What happened?"  
"Remember what you two did a couple mornings ago?" the light blue gem said in Amber's arms.

"Yeah?" Amber replied curiously, adjusting her grip on Turquoise.

"Well… You can go further!" the light blue gem squealed, "You can hold hands, cuddle, and plenty of other things!"

"I can?" Amber said, "Let's go to the couch."

"Okay," Turquoise smiled as Amber carried the almost twice her size gem to the maroon couch.

The two looked at each other, "So you are saying I can do more with this human?"

"Yep," Turquoise said, "You just need to take it slow because sometimes humans don't like the quick stuff. Just let him start things. If he doesn't, he probably doesn't love you."

"Alright," Amber said, slightly worried and wanting to change the subject, "Can we get some more parts for the arm? I am a little bit worried about its hardiness."

"Yes, we will go today after school," Turquoise said.

"I can't wait!" Amber got off of the couch and ran to Luca's and the caretaker's room to wake them.

After eating breakfast, Amber and Luca headed off to school. The walk seemed longer than it actually was to the tan gem, but she eagerly waited for Luca to hold her hand. It didn't happen this time, but maybe it would happen on the walk after school.

School passed quickly by and Amber and Rita talked about boys any chance they had. At lunch, Luca gave some of his food to Amber and she ate it quickly.

"Whoa, nice arm, Luca," Rita said, "Did Amber make it?"

"Yes, she did," Luca smiled and looked to the gem in question "Do you want something?"

"Perhaps," Amber responded, she hadn't noticed the weird looks she had been giving Luca.

Rita rolled her eyes as Luca thought of what the gem could want, "Do you want chocolate pudding?"

"Yes please," Amber replied while Rita face palmed.

After Amber devoured her pudding, she remembered what she wanted, "Luca, I-"

The lunch bell suddenly rang three times and the three went off to their respective classes. Amber patiently waited for Luca to hold her hand, but it didn't happen even on the way to the classroom.

When school was over, Luca and Amber made their way home. Luca still hadn't held her hand! Didn't he know that was what people did in relationships? Amber was frustrated, but she bottled it up and walked a little faster home. Luca ran to catch up to her, but she opened the door and closed it on his face, running to her room.

"What's wrong?" Luca ran to her room.

"I hate you!" Amber shouted against the door.

"Why?" Luca asked, "What did I do?"

"Nothing," Amber said quietly.

"Can I come in?" Luca asked calmly.

Amber opened the door, but Luca couldn't find her anywhere. He searched in the closet, and low and behold, the tan gem was in there.

She turned away and sniffed as Luca lightly stroked her hair, "Man, this is a hate and love kind of relationship isn't it?"

"Yep," Amber smiled, wiping her tears away, "Doesn't being in a human relationship mean that you always hold hands and do that kind of stuff?"  
"Nope," Luca said, "Usually in a 'human relationship' you have the option of doing those kind of things. You don't have to do them; it can just be fun sometimes. I didn't want to hurt your feelings or bother you by just suddenly grabbing your hand."

"Oh… Sorry for getting totally mad, I just feel a bit insecure… Turquoise said if you don't hold my hand or cuddle with me, you don't love me. I dislike myself, but I am trying to do the opposite, I just keep on messing things up. I thought a relationship would fix everything," Amber frowned.

"You never intentionally do bad things, they just happen that way and being in a relationship doesn't guarantee that you will feel better. You have to accept yourself for who you are, but sometimes you need help and that's okay," Luca smiled and grabbed Amber's hand, "Let's work together."

"Okay," Amber smiled and felt herself wrapped in Luca's arms.

She sighed and remembered how much her feelings had developed for the human. The tan gem hated him, but loved him at the same time. Amber calmed herself before Luca left for work to say goodbye and found Turquoise.

The two talked about human relationships again, this time the tone had changed.

"Sorry about that, I guess humans are different than I thought," Turquoise smiled, "Looks like you should make moves too. Most human relationships in movies are portrayed as the male having most dominance, but it looks like Luca wants you to have freedom too. You are pretty lucky to have a guy like him."

"I know," Amber smiled sweetly, "I am going to go to his work right now. Do you know where it is?"

"Yes," Turquoise said, drawing a map, "Best of luck, Amber!"

Amber ran as fast as she could with a smile on her face. She remembered how she didn't know what love was before she arrived on Earth. The good people here had helped her get through so many tough parts in life.

At last she had arrived at the auto shop. The automatic doors let her in and she saw Luca working on a car.

She snuck up behind him, "How is your arm?"

Luca jolted and dropped his wrench, "It's as good as your stalking skills. You shouldn't be back here."

"Aren't you happy I came to see you?" Amber asked wistfully.

"Kind of, but it's a bit dangerous here," Luca smiled as the tan gem picked up the wrench.

"Here is your tool," Amber said, placing the object into the boy's robotic hand.

"Thanks," Luca smiled, "My break is in twenty minutes, I can treat you to dinner."

"Okay, I will wait," Amber said, staring at the human as he worked.

The tan gem eventually sat down and twiddled her thumbs until Luca came over. She grabbed his hand and the two went to get dinner. They shared a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Amber ate a bit, but saved the rest for Luca as he had to go back to work afterward and she wanted him to have plenty of energy.

After the two had finished, Amber walked Luca back to work and bid him goodbye. She strolled home with a smile on her face as the sun set quickly. The tan gem told Turquoise all about her date as the light blue gem smiled.

"I'm so happy for you!" Turquoise giggled, "Maybe you can fuse?"

"F-Fusion? That can't be done with a human," Amber said nervously.

"Then how did Rose Quartz turn into Steven?" Turquoise asked.

"You know Steven?" Amber asked.

"A lot happened during that month you went sour," Turquoise smiled, "I am saying Rose and Greg had some kind of fusion that enabled them to create Steven."

"Okay," Amber said slowly, "I will try dancing with him then."

"Alright! See if he asks you to go to the Fall Formal in November," Turquoise grinned.

When Luca got home, Amber ran to him and instantly wrapped her arms around him. He put his hands around her waist and looked into her eyes wondering what was up.

"What's happening?" Luca asked, "Do you need something?"

Amber nodded, "I need to fuse with you!"

"Why fuse?" Luca asked.

"I want to get closer to you," Amber said.

"But I am a human and you are a gem… Fusion means totally different things to me than to you," Luca said, placing his hand on Amber's cheek, "But we can try, want to go to the Fall Formal with me?"

"Sure!" Amber said, jumping up and down.

Luca and the tan gem separated, as he was feeling fairly tired. She said good night and went to her bed. Turquoise wasn't there, but she still slept fine. Amber wondered how human she was, but pushed the thought away as the waves of sleep consumed her.

The next day, Luca and Amber held hands on the way to school. It was a test day, but the two felt good about their scores. Rita and Amber talked about so many things and ended up scheduling a hangout at the mall on Saturday.

Luca jokingly asked if he could come, but Rita flatly turned him down, "You get her all the time, I want to have her for just a couple hours on Saturday!"

"Okay, okay!" Luca smiled, lifting up his hands in submission.

Amber's favorite day of the week was today, Thursday. Luca was home early from work and she could cook his favorite food, lemon chicken.

She had recently gone to the store with Turquoise so she had enough chicken and lemons. However, she had forgotten to get seasoning. Amber walked into the supermarket with twenty dollars in her pocket and exited it with four dollars. She bought many ingredients, even some for a later dinner.

When the gem got home, no one was there. Turquoise and the caretaker must have gone somewhere, but Amber appreciated the quiet. She cooked the lemon chicken for a couple hours until Luca came home. They ate the chicken alone together, saving a bit for the caretaker and Turquoise.

"Hey Amber?" Luca asked as the gem looked up from her chicken, "My arm has been feeling really weird lately. Do you think you can have a look at it?"

"Sure," Amber said, "Finish your dinner first."

"Okay," Luca smiled.

The two finished their meals and headed out to the barn.

"Now, I need you to lay your robotic arm on the table while I look at it, is that okay?" Amber smiled, "Just keep calm."

"Alright," Luca replied, holding out his arm and pushing his arm on the table.

Purple veins lined up to the upper arm area, but Amber shook off her confusion. She rolled up his sleeve more and saw more problems, deciding not to tell Luca just yet.

"This might hurt just a little bit, I am recalibrating the nerve wires," Amber said, disconnecting the arm as Luca winced, "I am also going to put on water resistance and make it so that you can feel things with your arm."

"Okay," Luca said.

Amber pulled off his arm gently; some of the wires had been popping up into his upper arm creating the purple veins. She tugged at them for a bit, but they wouldn't budge. Blood steadily trickled out. The gem wasn't prepared for this so she involuntarily gasped.

"What's wrong?" Luca asked, "Oh… Why is it bleeding?"

"It's going to be alright," Amber said as she ripped out the wires.

"Ouch," Luca said, wincing heavily, "Amber, what is going on?"

"You are now bleeding out…" Amber said, frowning, "You have thirty minutes before you… die."

Luca panicked slightly, but felt his arm being messed with. At least the tan gem was trying to prevent his death. She quickly rearranged the wires and put them in the right spots, making sure not to have a single mistake. The blood stopped flowing eventually when she sealed the arm. Nerve fibers enabled him to feel Amber's cheek as she made his arm water resistant. The gem looked up to him as he stared into her eyes.

His body went limp with exhaustion as he fell backwards. Amber caught him and took him inside to his bed. She would never let this happen again so she had to keep careful watch of Luca's arm from now on. The gem felt exhausted after the event and she ended up passing out in Luca's bed. She woke up in the morning with Luca's arm around her. Luca stirred awake and realized where his hand was.

"I am so sorry, Amber," Luca said, "I didn't remember that this was your room."

"Oh no, this is your room. I carried you here after you collapsed," Amber said, "Sorry about pulling all of the wires out at once."

"You had to do it otherwise it would have been worse," Luca said, "I can't feel any pain at all actually."

"That's good, I guess," Amber smiled as Luca pulled her close, "Happy Friday."

Luca kissed her forehead, "Yup."

Amber got up and looked at the time, "Oh my gosh, Luca! We are going to be late!"  
"What?!" Luca asked, hopping out of bed.

"It's 8:45! School starts at nine!" Amber said, "I will go get your breakfast!"

"Okay," Luca said, hurriedly changing out of his pajamas.

Within minutes Luca had eaten breakfast and the two ran out the door. Turquoise and the caretaker were still gone so Amber had to lock up the house frantically before they left. They got to school one minute before the bell rang and were giggled at by their peers. Rita gave Amber a talking to about getting into guy's beds, but she fully supported her with whatever she did.

After school, Luca and Amber went home holding hands. No one was home so Luca decided to take the day off and stay with Amber. They made a dinner of corn and potatoes and sat in near silence, Turquoise and the caretaker had never been gone this long before. They must have been on a shopping trip or gone somewhere.

Luca noticed that Amber was slightly uneasy so he put on some music. Amber stood up and formed a dress similar to the one she had before, but much looser. She spun around into Luca's arms and the two danced for several minutes. Soon enough it was much closer dancing, but still no fusion for some unapparent reason. Luca and Amber's lips became one at the end of the last song. Her gem shone brightly as Luca felt a weird feeling on the inside.

"I feel strange," Amber said.

"Same," Luca said, holding the gem closer.

"I love you," Amber said sweetly.

"I love you too," Luca responded.

They fell asleep together on the couch, waking up when sunlight streamed through the window blinds. Amber went off to the mall to hang out with Rita while Luca tried to get a hold of the caretaker.

At the mall, Rita and Amber looked at dresses for the Fall Formal, jewelry, and whatever shops looked interesting.

"Rita, aren't these made of me?" Amber asked, staring at a piece of amber on a stand.

"Well, you were made on Homeworld but these ambers were created from tree sap. So technically yes, but no," Rita smiled, "I don't think and amber necklace would suit you for this dance."

"Okay," Amber smiled as the two continued looking for things.

Rita ended up buying Amber a cute blue dress and a golden leaf necklace. Amber thanked her friend several times over and promised when she got more money that she would treat her to something. They parted with a hug and went their separate ways.

When Amber got home, she dropped her bag. A note was carved on the door; _Have family, come find us at -._

Amber immediately went inside, blood was all over the couch. She fought back tears and went to the phone, dialing the number for the second half of the Crystal Gems.

"Hello?" Amber asked, "I need you to come to me right now."

"Is this Amber? What happened?" a calm voice asked.

"M-My family was taken away, there is blood on the couch," Amber said, staggering.

"We need you to stay calm," the voice said, "Do you have any enemies?"

"No! None at all!" Amber replied, "Ugh, I am not feeling so well."

"Stay yourself, Amber, we are on our way," Amber heard the phone click off.

She fell to her knees as her head started to ache. Her body gave way and she lay on the floor in fetal position, trying to keep herself intact. What was going to happen to her lover, was he even still alive?


	10. Ghastly Interference

Amber lay on the ground whispering to herself by the time her helpers got to her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, there were five gems that worriedly watched her.

"We are here to help, my name is Azurite, and they are Vexus, Emerald, Jewel, and Tiger Eye," the blue-eyed gem said, "You are safe with us, we just need you to stay yourself, okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Amber said, getting off of the floor, "How did you get here so fast?"

Amber felt something invade her mind as the tall green gem communicated, _"We live somewhat close."_

"Gah! Get out of my head," Amber said, already starting to become more of herself, "Only Turquoise gets to see my mind!"

Emerald tilted her head, _"Your friend can read minds and communicate telepathically?"_

"Yes! Can't you?" Amber said, shaking her head.

 _"Nope, I can only speak to you,"_ Emerald said as Amber calmed herself down.

"Oh," Amber said, "Sorry."

"This is useful information," Jewel said, "If Turquoise can do both communication and reading, she can tell us all about the opponents."

"Alright," Amber said, sitting down on a chair, "There is a strange number on the door and I was wondering if you could tell me about it."

Vexus looked at the number again, "It's a street address in the valley."

"Oh," Amber said as the two made eye contact, "Wait a second…"

"You are _that_ Amber?" Vexus asked, "You gave me my collar! Wow you got away with so many things, I can't believe you are asking for _my_ help now."

"At least _I_ didn't tick off Yellow Diamond by exploding a ship with a gem in it…" Amber said, "And, my gem isn't deformed like yours."

Vexus blushed blue, "Do you really think that making that collar was a smart idea?"

"No! I regret it!" Amber said, grimacing.

"Alright everyone, get in the car!" Tiger Eye said, tired of the two arguing, "I don't care how ya feel!"

Vexus scoffed, "Who died and made you leader?"

"Certainly not me," Azurite smiled as Vexus blushed harder.

The small green gem sighed, "Sorry, Amber. We are really here to help you out, I just got miffed in the past."  
"It's okay, I also escalated it," Amber said, holding out her hand.

 _"You two should get a room,"_ Emerald giggled.

"Shush!" Vexus said, taking her hand away from Amber, "You are very different from what you seemed like on the security cameras."

"Yeah," Amber said, "Everyone says that."

"Well, you look better," Azurite said as Amber's hand fell.

"Really?" Amber looked up to the taller gem.

"Yes," Azurite grinned and grabbed the tan gem's hand, "Now, we need you to get in the car so that we can find your family."

"Okay," Amber said as the two got into the car.

She watched as Emerald shape shifted into a small green puppy and sat on Jewel's lap. Amber sat in the seat next to shotgun while Azurite and Vexus sat in the back with Jewel and Emerald. Tiger Eye was at the wheel and driving fairly quickly.

"Wow, it's like we have a small army," she said, "It's what Azurite would have wanted."

"What?" Amber looked back to Azurite, "What is she saying?"

"Apparently my mother and Tiger used to work together," Azurite said, "Gosh this is kind of confusing… I was conceived by my mother and father somehow which is why I look like this. That was at least five thousand years ago though."

As Azurite was reminiscing with Vexus, Amber turned around to face the upcoming world. Tiger steered the car around a sharp corner and they came to their destination.

"This is the place, right Vexus?" the pale gem asked.

"Yes," Vexus answered.

The group hopped out of the car and ran to the building. Amber was the first to break in through the door. Tiger and Azurite followed directly behind her as she ascended the steps to the rooftop. It looked empty, but Amber felt a strong wind brushing against her as she inhaled.

She felt tempted to vomit as the sickening smell flooded her nostrils. The gem walked towards the smell, but was horrified and walked backwards a bit. Amber looked down and saw a hand that had a wedding band. As the group caught up to her, they became aware of the smell too. The tan gem winced when she discovered more body parts scattered about.

Vexus picked up the hand, "This is fake, g-."

The hand exploded in her face, sending her gem straight towards the gems. Tiger Eye jumped up and caught it, passing it to Azurite.

"Get out of there!" Azurite shouted to Amber, but she didn't listen.

Amber stared into the presumed body parts and sorted through them, looking for Luca and the caretaker's. She felt herself being picked up by the silvery gem, Jewel. Her body was tossed away, but Jewel didn't have time to get out of there. Explosions echoed as her gem was tossed into Emerald's chest. The green gem held her close, but gave her to Azurite.

 _"Stay here, I am going to get revenge right now,"_ Emerald helped Amber get up and started sprinting at the place where the explosions occurred.

The roof was a rather large place, but she ran into a barrier, falling backwards. She forcibly placed her hand through it and felt herself destabilizing. Suddenly, Emerald felt a hand touching hers, she pulled and pulled and out came the caretaker. He collapsed on the ground, his limp body no longer helping him breathe.

Amber ran over and put her hands on the caretaker and pulled out arrows that had been fired into his side, "Please don't die!"

Emerald kneeled, _"I will try to heal him, you put your hands through there and pull people out."_

Something fell out of the caretaker's pocket, Turquoise's gem, "Is this your friend's? Her gem has a crack in it so I can't heal that, but when Jewel gets back she can help."

Amber nodded, "Okay."

She stuck her hand into the barrier and felt instant pain, instinctively retracting it. When Amber recovered from the shock, she forcibly shoved her whole body into the barrier. Emerald rose to try and stop her, but she got through with brutal effort.

On the other side, Amber saw Luca's arm lying on the ground. It had most likely been beaten off of its attachment. She turned around and hit the barrier, causing it to ripple and fall apart. A small building had been revealed that was almost pitch black except for a bit of light in the corner.

Tiger and Azurite came to Amber's side, watching out for her. She ran forward and they followed her every step to the light. In the corner, Luca sat in a chair, looking like he had been drugged, as he didn't react to the arrival of his lover.

Amber ran her hands through his hair, "It's gonna be okay, Luca."

He struggled to look at her but his body wasn't able to help him move. She removed the duct tape from his mouth and tried to untie him. Tiger pulled out her switchblade and cut the tape within a few seconds. Azurite picked him up and carried him to Emerald. Amber continued forward with Tiger, breaking the chair to make a small blade out of the sharp wood.

All of a sudden, several bullets flew past Amber, one hitting her back. Tiger tried to pull it out of her, but it wouldn't come out so they continued to fight the people ahead of them with the blade of wood until it broke into pieces.

"It's okay, let's continue," she winced as Tiger attempted to try to get the bullet out, "Let me take the damage, your type doesn't handle that aspect very well. Besides, I am going to need you to fight these evil idiots."

"True," Tiger said, "But still…"

The two ran quickly through the area until humans surrounded them. Tiger wiped the sweat off her brow while Amber leaned against her. Quickly pulling a makeshift dagger from her gem, Amber lunged at the humans. She dragged it across one of their stomachs but memories flooded through her mind as blood spilled on the ground. Amber stared at the human as he collapsed, the sword still in his hand.

His group started to surround Amber as she stood in shock. Tiger Eye kicked most of the people away with her fringed boots. Within minutes the large group was diminished to three people.

"Why are you doing this?" Amber asked, but the humans only drew their bows.

"Answer her or we'll attack ya!" Tiger said, narrowing her eyes, "Hey Amber, it looks like they have mind-control on them."

"Really?" Amber asked, "Then that human I killed…"

"When Jewel gets back she can heal him, I don't think he died," Tiger looked to the body, "Yup still breathing."

Arrows fired at the two, but they successfully dodged them, running around the people and kicking their shins to knock them down. One hit Amber's visor, knocking her down. She panicked slightly, but calmed herself as Tiger ripped it out.

"That was close wasn't it?" Tiger Eye smiled.

"Yeah," Amber said, standing up.

The two looked around for the mastermind. Tiger felt a hand on her thigh and within a second she was laying flat on the ground.

She looked into the red eyes of a white-spotted black being with snowy white hair and a short black dress. It blinked twice and drew away, looking disgusted. When its eyes met Amber's the tan gem backed off but the being got closer and closer till their faces touched.

"S-Stay away f-from me!" Amber stuttered.

"Why?" the being asked, "I am the remnant of a gem called Snowflake Jasper. I possessed all of these people just so that I could get interesting gems to come visit me."

"I don't care about you, you took my family away!" Amber practically yelled with all of the bottled up anger, "You took and hurt people I loved and now you expect me to want to be close to you?! No way! Get the heck out of here!"

"That is what I like in a gem," the being said, "Amber, you are going to need to kill your friend."

"What?" Amber asked, looking to Tiger Eye, "I would never hurt her."

"I wish to see you cry and turn dark," the being developed a glint in her eye and put her lips to Amber.

The gem started choking as the specter-like being crawled down her throat. Her small shard of a gem got caught, but it was forced down. Amber's eyes started to dull as she looked to Tiger Eye with a devilish glint.

"Whoa Amber, everything is okay," the light-brown hair gem said, "Ya are going to be okay."

Amber coughed, "Run the heck away! I am dangerous!"

"But ya were a technician, ya can't be that powerf-" Tiger was thrown across the roof, hitting the wall, "Oof, stronger than I thought ya were."

"Please run!" Amber yelled, pulling a long sword out of her gem as Tiger pulled out a katana.

"I am not gonna run! My pride won't allow it," Tiger Eye grinned.

Amber ran towards the gem and lunged, knocking her over again. This time, Tiger couldn't get up in time and the tan gem stabbed her in the stomach.

"Golly gosh, that is a hard stab," Tiger laid back, expecting Amber to remove the dagger.

Instead she drug it up, "Wow, ya are unpredictable aren't ya?"

The tan gem ripped it out of Tiger's chest and took a moment to stroke the pale gem's cheeks. She stared into her eyes for a few seconds and bent herself down to whisper to the gem.

Amber maintained eye contact, moving the dagger to her gem and pressed down with all of her effort. She looked down at the dagger and the specter reveled in frustration. The remnant struggled Amber's body as she started to get dizzy. Amber jabbed deeper down into her gem and the specter felt itself dissipating.

"No! You are going to die!" the specter said.

"Wrong person to possess!" Amber said, staring at her cracked gem.

It had never been this badly cracked, but she was ready to give up her life to make sure this specter never came back to hurt her family. A single tear rolled down Tiger's face as she helped Amber support herself.

"It's gonna be okay," she said to Amber, "Luca is gonna be so happy to see ya."

"Yup," Amber said, "Did I get her?"

"Yeah, ya did," Tiger said, "Doncha leave me, okay?"

Amber smiled as the shorthaired gem and her shuffled through the dark room. When they exited the building, the tan gem saw Luca and ran to him. He stood and watched as Emerald and Azurite struggled to resuscitate his uncle.

"When is Jewel getting back?!" Azurite said frantically as Amber got to her knees.

She took her dagger from her gem and changed it so that it looked like a long needle. Amber then shoved it into his lung and he started to cough.

"I saw that on a TV show, Luca," Amber smiled; changing the blade took a lot of energy from her.

Luca looked to her gem, "You aren't going to make it are you?"

"Probably not," Amber said, wiping her brow and staggering to her feet.

He put his fingers on her gem and touched the cracks. The amber was warm where the dagger went in for some reason as his finger travelled to the location. He quickly moved it out of the way as he felt a strange presence. Luca was knocked backwards, feeling some weird pain.

Azurite looked in back of him, "What is that?"

Tiger looked to it too, "That was that snowflake obsidian's gem… Oh no."

Luca fell to the ground, "What happened?"

Amber looked down to her gem; a huge hole had been created, deeper than the dagger cut. Luca's stomach started to bleed as Amber's gem started to fall apart.

The tan gem got on her knees next to Luca's head and placed it on her, "Emerald, please start healing him, his wound won't kill him but the pain will. I am already basically screwed so put all of your effort into healing him."

" _Okay,"_ Emerald communicated, _"When Jewel gets back-"_

"Don't worry about it," Amber smiled as she started to dissipate into the air.

"Amber, please don't die," Luca said, "When Jewel heals your gem we can go to the beach."

"That will be fun," Amber smiled, running her hands through his hair, "Who knew a couple days away from the caretaker and Turquoise would lead to this?"

"I sure didn't," Luca giggled, but coughed a little, "It was a nice little time wasn't it?"

"Yes," Amber said, "Hey Luca?"

"Yeah?" Luca asked.

"I love you," Amber said, kissing his forehead.

"I love you too…" Luca responded, closing his eyes.

" _Amber, stay with me!"_ Emerald said, _"Why do I have to be the only healer here?"_

The tan gem placed Luca's head on the ground and poofed. Emerald was left with Luca as she tried to quickly heal him.

* * *

Luca opened his eyes, he was in his bed, but everything looked blurry. The one-armed boy walked to the kitchen, his uncle was there with Turquoise. They both ran to him, wrapping their arms around his revived body. When the hug ended, he walked around the oddly quiet house. He checked on the couch and in the barn, there was no sign of Amber.

"Uncle, where is Amber?" Luca asked.

"She is in a bubble," the uncle responded, "Here ya go."

Turquoise made the blue bubble appear, "She hasn't come out since the incident."

"Oh," Luca said, holding the bubble, "Can I open it?"  
"Yes," Turquoise smiled, "She has been waiting for you."

He released the bubble and Amber's gem fell gently into his hand. Nothing happened for several minutes and Turquoise and the uncle were getting worried.

"She did take a lot of damage…" Luca said, frowning.

All of a sudden, Amber's gem started to float into the air. It glowed onto the group as a body formed.

"Hello, L-" Amber was interrupted as she felt Luca's lips on hers.

"I was so worried," Luca said in between breaths.

"Sorry about that," Amber said.

"Okay you two, enough making out in the kitchen," the uncle smiled, "Go be discreet like kids."

"Alright," Amber said, "See you later then."

The two disappeared onto the roof until sunset.

"Gosh I thought you were dead," Luca said, holding Amber's hand.

"Same," Amber smiled, leaning onto Luca, "I wonder what even happened."

"Yeah, I guess next time that crew comes, we got to ask them," Luca said.

"Yes," Amber said, "Wow I feel hungry how about you?"

"Very," Luca grinned and the two climbed down the ladder.

After dinner, they slept together in Luca's bed. She watched as he closed his eyes, knowing that she would wake up next to him in the morning. Sleep washed over her like waves and her blue eyes closed, not opening for the span of a night.


	11. Rose Thorn

Warmth flushed over Amber as she opened her eyes. The gem lay in a bed that wasn't hers and she had trouble remembering what happened last night. Memories flooded her mind as light streamed through the window. She also noticed that a weight was placed halfway across her form. Amber felt it and discovered that it was Luca's stump. She needed to fix the robotic part before he went back to school otherwise his resistance to the wires would fade. Luca stirred in his sleep and Amber stroked his long blond hair.

He moved his stump off of her and rolled onto his back. Yawning, Luca sat up in his bed.

"What happened last night?" Luca asked.

"I don't recall anything," Amber responded, hopping out of the bed.

"Well, we are both dressed so I guess nothing happened," Luca smiled.

"Why would we be undressed?" Amber tilted her head.

"You are taking Health Class next semester right?" Luca asked.

"Yes," Amber said, "I think."

"You will learn it there, or you can just ask Rita," Luca said, "I wouldn't recommend looking it up on the Internet though."

"Okay," Amber said.

"Now let's go get some breakfast," Luca said, running to the kitchen.

"Yeah!" Amber ran after him.

The two quickly made oatmeal and fruit smoothies for breakfast, waiting for the caretaker and Turquoise to come out.

"Thanks for yesterday," the caretaker said, "We could have been killed."

"I did what any of you would do," Amber smiled.

Two strong arms wrapped around her, "Thanks for saving my nephew, he is the last blood relative I have."

Turquoise stood still, she had been feeling slightly off lately but had been pushing the thoughts away. The light blue gem picked Amber up and spun her around, fusing.

"Well then, it's been a while!" the fusion talked, "I hope you like giant women."

"I think I do?" Luca said as the fusion realized the house wasn't big enough for her, "Maybe you should go outside?"

"Oh, yeah," Tourmaline crawled out of the screen doors that Luca hurriedly opened, "Thanks."

Luca nodded as he looked at the fusion. The girls looked like they were enjoying their experience, running around the backyard. They unfused and got into the barn, waving goodbye to Luca.

He walked back into the house and sat down on the couch. All of a sudden, Luca's new phone beeped twice. The one-armed boy opened the front door and walked outside to a car.

"Hey Luca! Get in!" Rita said, "I need to talk with you!"

"Alright," Luca hopped in and Rita sped off.

"Remember what happened yesterday?" Rita asked.

"Yeah, a little bit," Luca said.

"Well, I met a person called Azurite who told me to take you home," Rita said, looking troubled, "I saw plenty of your blood on the ground, but there was something strange…"

"What was it?" Luca asked, "Why would she tell you to take all of us home?"

"I found a gem shard, looks like a piece of Snowflake Obsidian," Rita said, "They left before I could give it to them. It seems like they were trying to find it somewhere else."

"Oh no, do you have it?" Luca asked frantically, "That thing went through my stomach or something."

"Wow. That's deep," Rita said, "Well anyways, I do have the shard, but I don't intend on bringing it out right now."

"Are we going to the roof again?" Luca asked.

"Yeah," Rita said, calmly running her hand through her hair, "Luca, the only reason I like you is because of Amber."

"The only reason I like YOU is because of Amber," Luca said, "By the way, how come I don't have any bad or horrific memories? Didn't a lot of bad things happen?"

"The silvery gem, Jewel, can soothe painful memories," Rita said, "Emerald can't heal very well, the only thing she is good at is stabilizing."

"Oh," Luca said, "How come you know so much?"  
Rita blinked twice, "You were out like a light, but I went to your house to give her something. I saw the blood and the note so I went to the place. By the time I got there, Emerald was yelling fairly loud at your body. Azurite tried to get me out of there, but I told her I knew you and Amber. She gave me Vexus and Jewel's gems and got to her knees to do CPR."

"She just left you with her friend's gems?" Luca asked.

"Yes," Rita said, "Then this other gem starts panicking and asking why you had to be human as if you were dead. So I tell Azurite to pull a defibrillator out of her gem. When she does, I hand her the gems and tell everyone to get away and start zapping you."

"What did you do about the power though?" Luca asked, "Don't you need power to use a defibrillator?"

"Well yeah, but there were plenty of outlets…" Rita said, almost not want to talk about it.

"Out with it, Rita!" Luca said.

"Alright," Rita said thoughtfully, "We kind of dragged your body to a wall with an outlet then zapped you."

"My poor body," Luca said, "Glad I don't remember any of that. Anyway, what happened after that?"

"I didn't actually know how to use the defibrillator… We stood there for two minutes and then Jewel comes out of her gem. She stares at us and sprints over, placing her hands on Emerald's and healing you up," Rita paused, "Then the green gem comes out and starts up as if she was saying something was fake. She is so surprised when she sees your body, but asks where Amber is."

"Wow," Luca said, mind blown, "Thanks for taking us home, Rita. We really owe it to you."

"That's alright, I was glad that I could help out," Rita smiled, "Oh! We are here."

When they got up to the rooftop, blood littered the ground. Rita threw the shard into the air and it started to glow.

A body began to form but it changed into almost see through. White spots freckled the pitch black being as it reached out to the two.

"I am the remnant of a Snowflake Obsidian, what do you want with me?" the being asked.

"We want to ask you some questions," Rita said, "Would you do that for us?"

"Sure," the remnant said, wandering in front of the girl.

"Why are you a remnant and not a corrupted gem?" Rita asked.

The remnant cackled, "I am not a fusion experiment and I am not a whole gem, I was just split into pieces by someone."

"Who?" Rita asked, "Who split you?"

"A man called Thomas," the remnant croaked, "Where is Amber by the way?"

"She isn't going to meet with you again," Luca said.

"I will make it happen," the remnant said under her breath, "That's okay by me. What are you going to do with my shard?"

"I," Rita paused; she hadn't gotten this far yet, "You can stay at my house in a jar until those gems come back to take care of you. How does that sound?"

"Are you sure, Rita?" Luca turned to the girl, "This remnant might make our lives worse."

"If she tries anything, then I will poof her," Rita said, trying to be logical.

"Okay," Luca said.

The remnant nodded and got into Rita's pocket, "I guess I will stay with you, Rita."

Rita drove Luca back to his house and left him with a phone for Amber, "She is going to need one of these."  
Luca thanked her and walked into his house with the blue cellular device. His uncle greeted him and told him that Amber was still outside. He touched his stump before he walked out the screen door. It was still a little bit sore from the other day, but he was getting used to not having it again.

He heard chatter coming from the barn, but he stood still. Why would Rita want to let the remnant into her house, even though she was going to put her into a jar? It made no sense to even keep that shard around, Amber or Turquoise could have bubbled it and sent it to the other gems.

"Turquoise! Pass me the wire set!" Amber said frantically.

Luca walked into the barn, "What's happening… Oh."

Amber was embarrassed as her cheeks flushed blue, "Hi Luca."

"Hi, Rita has a gift for you," Luca said, handing it over to the tan gem, "Here you go."

Amber took it, "Wow! This is awesome!"

"Well, I am going to go," Luca turned around, he couldn't tell Amber that the creature that had possessed her was allowed to live.

"No," Amber said, grabbing his shirt, "I need you to help me size this."

"Is your skin going to be okay?" Luca asked, touching her arm.

"Yeah," Amber said, "It will heal soon. I just spilled a little bit of oil on it."

"Okay," Luca said, sitting down and laying his arm on the platform.

Amber gently measured it while Turquoise gave her the parts. Soon enough, Luca had a functioning robotic arm.

"Thanks, Amber," he said.

"Sure," the tan gem said, "What's eating at you? You seem different."

"Nothing's wrong, I am just a bit tired from last night," Luca smiled, "This time, the arm didn't hurt as much going in."

Amber blinked twice, "That's good. Do you know what time it is?"

Luca looked to his phone, "It's four o' clock."

"Oh," Amber said, "Looks like it's time to make dinner!"

"Yay! Dinner!" Turquoise said, picking up Amber and running inside.

Luca stood still for a bit and put his arm to his head, he was feeling a bit sick about not telling Amber, but he ignored the thoughts. After a couple minutes of trying to cool himself, Luca walked back to the screen door. He pushed it open and trotted inside, sitting on the couch.

As his phone beeped, Luca switched the channels on the TV. When he finally looked, he saw ten messages from Rita. They seemed somewhat normal at first, but they started to degrade in spelling and grammar errors. The last message read: Uca, tel ber I luv her.

Luca dropped his phone in his lap, "Amber, I am going to be gone for a while. Save some croissant for me okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Amber said, she wondered why he was acting so differently.

Luca walked out the door and ran to Rita's house. Her front door was unlocked and a window was broken. A small scream was enough to make Luca convinced enough to go into the house.

"Rita?" he called aloud, "Are you still here?"  
"Not Rita…" a voice called out, "Me, Snowflake Obsidian."

"How did you get out of the jar," Luca demanded.

"The girl let me out," the remnant spoke coldly, "Now I have her body. But I would prefer Amber's."

"Let her go!" Luca said.

"Sure," the remnant said as she left Rita's body flying straight at Luca.

* * *

"Oh hey, Luca! You are just in time, dinner is on the table," Amber smiled as Luca blushed.

"You are beautiful," he said.

Amber narrowed her eyes, did Luca usually say that? She couldn't remember if he did or not, but she just nodded. He sat down next to his uncle and started to eat his croissant quietly.

The tan gem sat next to him and leaned on his shoulder, "Do you like it?"

"Yes, I do," Luca said, "It's delicious."

"Where did you go?" Amber asked.

"I-" Luca began to say as memories rushed through him, "Rita says she loves you."

"What?" Amber said as Luca struggled to stay calm.

"I visited with Rita for a bit, she is doing well," Luca smiled.

Turquoise and the caretaker left after a while to go watch their favorite TV show. Luca's face started to turn pitch black with white splotches.

Amber frantically put her hands on his cheeks, speaking quickly. He closed his eyes and when they opened, all he saw was red.

"Luca!" Amber said, slapping his face.

He was now all black with white splotches decorating random spots. Luca heard voices calling to him as he lost more of himself to the remnant. He remembered the remnant lunging at him. Luca thought he defeated it, but he knew now that he hadn't. He called 9-1-1 before he blacked out so that she could get treatment, but his body was moved to his house.

Amber watched as the caretaker and Turquoise were thrown across the room. She stared at Luca's now red eyes and wondered if he could see her. The tan gem felt cold hands on her thighs.

"You feel much better when I touch you on the outside than the inside," she heard Luca's voice say.

There was something different about the voice though, something familiar. It hit Amber as she remembered that it was the remnant's voice. She fell to her knees and placed her hands on the floor. Luca must have gone to the roof and gotten possessed.

Luca's body kneeled and Amber felt cold hands on her cheeks, "Maybe I will make you two my slaves?"

"P-Please leave my family alone," Amber said, pushing the hands away.

They travelled to her stomach and started to scratch her gem lightly. She groaned as the remnant in Luca's body had its way with her. The tan gem had no way to get it out of Luca without hurting him so she stayed put. Something caught her eyes so they drifted to the left, it was an eggplant, Luca's least favorite food. Amber grabbed it and laid herself down on the ground as the remnant crawled over her.

She broke off a piece of the eggplant and put it into the remnant's mouth. It coughed for a minute as it tried to get the taste out. Amber rolled out and stood up with more eggplant, forcing it down the remnant's throat.

"What are you doing?! Stop it!" the remnant cried out.

Luca's body started to shake as the remnant escaped into the air. Amber caught its gem and bubbled it in a golden yellow bubble. She sent it up and immediately went to Luca's side.

The last of the affects were subsiding as Luca looked to Amber, "That tasted awful."

"That was the point," Amber said, wrapping her arms around him.

"I am so sorry for not telling you," Luca said, "Rita wanted to keep the remnant around for some reason. I didn't know how to tell you."

"It's all okay," Amber said, "We all survived so it's okay."

She kissed Luca on the forehead and helped him get up. They helped Turquoise and the caretaker up onto their feet. The two didn't seem to remember what happened, but they were fine with that.

Luca ate some more of the croissant and went to his room. Amber joined him after she finished doing the dishes.

"How are you feeling?" Amber asked her lover.

"I am fine," Luca said, "I am sorry for touching you in places you didn't want me to."  
"It wasn't you," Amber said, throwing the blanket over Luca, "Besides, it doesn't matter now."

She hopped into the bed and took off her visor, putting her feet on Luca's. He looked at Amber as she stared into his chocolate brown eyes.

"Are you excited for school tomorrow?" Amber asked Luca.

"Yes," Luca said, "But Rita is going to stay home, she is really sick."

"Okay," Amber said, she knew that Rita had been possessed as she would never be sick from school for anything else.

Luca closed his eyes, "Good night, Amber."

"Good night," Amber said, stroking his hair.

Today was a hectic day, Amber thought they couldn't get any worse but they always did.


	12. Lovely Night

**A/N: Mentions sex a couple of times. Hope you guys like it! -Mali**

Amber slipped on her blue dress as Rita ran a brush through her orange hair. Soon enough, the gem was all dolled up as she tried to zip it up herself. Rita attached Amber's golden leaf necklace and zipped up the gem's dress, smoothing out the outfit. The tan gem spun around in her somewhat long dress as Rita put her gown on. Amber had bought her this gown a few weeks ago after she got money from her job. It had a white top and a bottom of sunflowers with a blue sky in back of them. As Amber zipped the gown up, she felt Rita's back, it was quite warm.

The two walked out of Amber's room together, looking at Luca staring at them. He stood up and adjusted his sleeves. His outfit consisted of a white long-sleeved dress shirt with a black tie and long black pants. Amber walked over to him and smiled as he stared her.

"Wow… You look great," Luca said, "By the way; I have something for you."

Luca held out his hand, a bracelet of roses lay on it, "What is it?"  
"It's a corsage," Luca smiled.

"It's amazing!" Amber said giddily.

"It has to be otherwise he isn't a good boyfriend, Amber," Rita said, narrowing her eyes.

Luca coughed to the side, "Well girls, want to go to the dance?"

"Sure," Rita said, "I am going to drive."

"Okay," Luca smiled as Amber grabbed his arm, "Let's go."

The caretaker waved goodbye after telling Amber how pretty he thought she was. Turquoise was excited for her friend as she wrapped her light blue arms tightly around her. She removed her arms and spun Amber around as the tan gem smiled. Amber waved goodbye and they hopped into Luca's car to drive off to the Fall Formal.

Lights were strewn about beautifully along the trellises as music played softly. Luca and Amber held hands on the way through the doors. Rita walked off after hugging Amber and telling her to have a great time. Luca and Amber noticed that no one was dancing even though it was a beautiful place. They started to dance slowly as people stared at them. The music was changed to a less modern and more of a slow pace as more and more people started to dance.

Soon enough, the whole room was dancing around. Rita had even found a partner to dance with. Amber leaned into Luca and felt his arms wrap around her back. He picked her up and kissed her lips as the music drifted through the room. She closed her eyes as the two continued to make-out. Luca set Amber down as she looked into his chocolate brown eyes.

"Are we going to get out of here?" the tan gem asked.

"If you want to, but Rita drove here," Luca said, "She probably doesn't have a ride back."

"I will go talk to her," Amber said, walking over to her friend.

"Oh, hey Amber," Rita said, almost giddily laughing, "This is Jack, he is a Junior like me."

"Nice," Amber smiled, "Can Luca and I leave early?"  
"Sure," Rita said, "I am going over to his house anyways. Have fun!"

"Bye," Amber said, that was easier than she thought.

"So what happened?" Luca asked.

"Rita said it was okay and that she was going to go over to that guy's house," Amber said, wondering out loud, "She also said she is a Junior. Is that a year older than us?"

"Yeah," Luca said, "She is retaking World History because she was sick for a very long time and missed a lot of school."

"Oh," Amber said, "I had no idea."

"She was probably just trying to focus on you," Luca said.

Amber smiled, "I have a great friend don't I?"  
"Yes," Luca nodded, "Once you made friends with her, she was your best friend."  
"Yeah, but I have something else," Amber said, looking up to Luca, "The best boyfriend on Earth!"

Luca kissed Amber softly and the two made their way to the car. They drove up to the top of a hill and looked at the beautiful view of the town. It was quite a dark place, the only light being the stars and sliver of a yellow moon in the east.

The two stayed together until the moon had risen halfway in the sky. Luca looked at his phone and realized the time.

Amber tilted her head when he closed it, "What time is it?"

"It's one o' clock," Luca said.

"Oh my," Amber said, narrowing her eyes and putting her finger on Luca's chest, "We are the bad kids aren't we."

"Yeah," Luca said, "But we seriously have to hurry on home."

"Okay," Amber said, hopping into the car with Luca.

"Did you ever ask Rita what fusing is to us humans?" Luca asked awkwardly as he drove down the poorly lighted hill.

"Yes," Amber said, "She deflected me to the caretaker who deflected me to Turquoise who deflected me to you."

"Oh," Luca said, "Well… human to human fusion is when two people want to be together as one and they are uh…"

"What are they?" Amber asked, holding Luca's arm.

"They are without clothes and they go to bed together!" Luca practically shouted.

"Why without clothes?" Amber asked.

"Because…" Luca started to think of a plausible reason to tell Amber, "You will have Health Class soon, you can learn it from there."

"Argh!" Amber protested, "Everyone deflects me!"

Luca sighed, "It's called sex."

"How do I have the sex?" Amber asked.

"You need certain organs," Luca said, "I really shouldn't be telling you this…"

"Why?" Amber asked.

"Because it could really hurt you," Luca said, focusing on the road.

"I don't know what you're saying," Amber tilted her head as it looked like Luca had some kind of headache, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Luca said, "I am just worried about you."

"I know," Amber said, "I love you."

"I love you too," Luca said, looking into her deep blue eyes, "How did we get this close after only a few months?"

"Not sure, it just feels right," Amber said, "I have never been with someone before this but it sure feels great."  
"Do you remember how you were before we met?" Luca asked.

"Yeah, I was hateful and I did all of Yellow Diamond's bidding," Amber said, sniffling a little, "It hurts somewhere for some reason to remember it."

"It's because you have come so far," Luca said, wiping her tears away with his hand, "Do you miss your home?"

"I wouldn't say "miss" it, but I remember having some kind of friends," Amber said, "Peridot would occasionally socialize with me… My own kind usually didn't care but sometimes an Amber would greet me. She was always busy running around Homeworld though."

Luca looked back on the road and he saw a car coming towards them in the intersection. All of a sudden, the cars smashed into each other, the front bumper being totally destroyed.

"Amber… what happened," Luca croaked as a he saw a rather large figure in front of him, slowly walking forward.

"I don't… know…" Amber said, passing out.

Luca's eyes widened as the figure punched him in the head, sending him to sleep.

* * *

"Ugh," Luca said, struggling to pick himself up.

He was in a small chair with a collar on. It was producing shocks but none affected him as he was asked several questions about Amber. His shirt was removed as several small bruises were placed on his stomach.

"Good luck on our planet, shirtless human," a voice called out sarcastically.

Luca nodded and walked out of the room, pretending to be emotionless. The instant he left, he ran around the small district he was placed on in search of Amber or someone to help him find her.

He hadn't had any luck and was beginning to give up by the time he saw someone that looked like Amber. She wore a long orange dress that went just past her knees.

"Amber!" Luca shouted as the tan gem turned around, her dress twirling with her.

Luca stopped when he was within five feet of her, "You aren't Amber… Your gem is in the wrong place."

"Well, my name IS Amber, but I might not be the one you are looking for," Amber said, "What is a human doing here? The air might not be too good for you here."

"I feel fine," Luca said, "We were abducted maybe four hours ago. I don't know where Amber could be. The gems there said she was released a bit ago."

"I don't want to get in trouble, human," Amber said, frowning.

"Please, I am begging you! I love her dearly," Luca said, getting onto his knees.

"I guess I can help it, but I absolutely cannot get caught, okay?" Amber said, giving him her hand, "Get up."

Luca took her hand, "Thank you, Amber."

"Let's get going!" Amber said, running to a place she knew Ambers who had probably been brainwashed would go.

The two ran up a large hill and stopped at the top, it was a meeting place for Ambers. Luca couldn't find his Amber so they left to go to a new place. When all of the places had been checked, Amber sighed heavily as a sudden thought rushed into her head.

"What if she is with Yellow Diamond?" Amber said.

"Maybe, how do we check?" Luca asked.

"Well, we could ask Yellow Pearl to help us out," Amber frowned, "I just really don't want to get caught, I love my job."

"I will talk to her," Luca said, "Where is Yellow Diamond?"

"I can take you to her right now," Amber said, walking forward.

The two walked all the way to where Yellow Diamond's office was and stood on the outside, "Hey. Good luck."

Luca nodded and walked in, the doors opening for him. He saw a bunch of cells, but he ignored them and went onward.

"Who goes there?" a voice said.

"A visitor for Yellow Diamond," Luca said, "Let me through."

"Okay," the voice responded, opening the door to the giant yellow woman.

Amber stood by her side in her generated outfit, her eyes no longer having the same sparkle as they used to. Luca was in awe of how strange she looked, just standing there by her old leader.

He took a few steps forward and saw Yellow Diamond's head turn around. She stared at him for several seconds, trying to use her head to figure out why and how a human had gotten in. The diamond stood up and moved Amber out of the way like she was a doll.

"How did you get in here?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"I was firm with your soldiers, they are quite useless," Luca said, being shirtless in front of an important leader was quite awkward.

"Oh?" Yellow Diamond said, "Did you come for this useless piece of trash that can't even die when asked to?"

"Yes! Except she isn't useless!" Luca said, taking off his shoe and chucking it as hard as he could at the diamond's face.

"That's it, I am done entertaining you!" Yellow Diamond said, "Amber, go be a good gem and slit his throat."

"Yes, my Diamond," Amber said.

She pulled out a long sword and twirled it around her hand several times. The tan gem then ran at Luca with the weapon and plunged it into his leg, knocking him to the ground. He cried out in pain, but picked himself up and kicked Amber straight in the face, her visor falling off.

"Amber, stop yourself, remember us," Luca said, "Remember… the sex."

"The sex?" Amber said tilting her head.

"Yes!" Luca said.

Amber started to remember the last conversation the two had shared while she was about to stab his other leg. He groaned, wishing she could remember quicker.

"Oh," Amber said, "Luca! Your blood is all over the ground, what do I do?"

"You need to get that collar off of your neck before-" Luca started to say before Amber started to get shocked, "Before that."

Amber twirled the sword around her hand and stabbed it lightly into Luca's other leg as she put her fingers to her head, assuming control.

The tan gem shook her head, "I am going to try to take it off quickly, just take one more injury, okay?"

"Yeah," Luca said as Amber was shocked several times.

She plunged the sword into his shoulder and he cried out, "Humans reproduce with the sex!"

"They do?" Amber asked, tilting her head, "Oh gosh Luca, I will make this right."

She turned the sword upward and cut the collar off. Good thing it was the original collar otherwise it wouldn't be so easily broken. Luca fell forwards onto his face as Amber frantically threw the sword down. She picked him up and ran out of the room, grabbing Luca's shoe.

The Amber in the orange dress was in the hallway, "Who the heck are you?"

"I make sure that robbers and bad gems are put to rest but for now I am going to help you," Amber said to Amber.

Amber blinked twice, "Okay, then let's go to the loading docks."

"You still know how to fly right?" Amber asked.

"Yes, I do," Amber said, readjusting Luca.

The two Ambers started to run to the loading docks when they heard Yellow Diamond's footsteps echoing through the alleyway, "Amber, you need to get out of here. If she catches you, she will kill you."

"Take care of him, he is a good human," Amber said and ran to the left and away.

Amber ran and ran until she spied the loading docks. Luca stirred awake as she placed him on a bench seat.

"Amber?" Luca asked.

"Yeah?" Amber replied, wrapping him in a blanket.

"You are a hard core stabber," Luca said, "My body hurts all over."

"You are going to be okay, thankfully I didn't stab you in any vital spots," Amber stroked his blond hair.

Luca blinked, "Humans have "the sex" for fun or to have kids."

"Oh," Amber said, closing the hatch, Yellow Diamond had long given up on chasing her and Luca.

She got onto the steering area and placed her hands on the board, "Whoa, this feels new."

"Do you want to know more?" Luca asked, "Better ask me questions while I am delirious."

"Hmm…" Amber pondered as she lifted up the ship and it started to dash across the sky, "Have you ever had the sex before?"

"Nope," Luca said, "Never, not even once."

"Why?" Amber asked, for some reason no ships were attacking her yet.

"I have never loved anyone like this before," Luca said as a blast resounded across the hull.

Amber steered to the right, she could feel more coming and Luca couldn't help her shoot, "So you feel that way about me?"

"Yes, I do," Luca said as Amber stared ahead of her.

She fired a few shots at the ships in back of her releasing their speed. Soon enough, the ships had stopped coming. The meteors had been too much for them so they left Amber's ship alone. Two hours later, Luca and Amber arrived on Earth, gently landing the vehicle on some soft grass.

The sunshine was warm on Amber's skin as she carried Luca into the house. Turquoise and the caretaker ran over to them frantically. Luca's wounds were hurriedly wrapped up and he was placed in bed, Amber sleeping next to him to keep him warm. She wondered how the Amber she talked to was doing. She inched closer to Luca and fell asleep within minutes thinking how such a nice night turned into a terrifying one.


	13. Spaceship

Amber awoke with Luca's arm across her chest. She smiled and closed her eyes, she had learned all about the sex even though Luca was basically inebriated. The tan gem moved her arm slightly and immediately her blond-haired lover woke himself up. He winced; Amber didn't realize she was touching his shoulder injury. Luca looked up at the tan gem and she stared into his chocolate eyes. Amber immediately removed her fingers from the area and apologized abashedly as he shook his head.

The two stared at each other in silence and realized today was a school day. They hopped out of bed and Luca put on a blue shirt.

"I can't believe we were in space yesterday," Luca said as he shoved on his pants.

"Me either," Amber said, "It was weird to be on Homeworld…"

"Yeah," Luca said, "The other Amber told me the air was less than sufficient, do you know why?"

"Well," Amber said, "The atmosphere needs more resources than it currently has. In some parts there is no gravity, I am so lucky you didn't stumble into those areas."

"Wow," Luca said as he combed his hair.

Amber figured she'd try something different as she dissipated her clothes. Luca put his arm in front of his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Amber asked, tilting her head.

"You are naked," Luca said, turning himself around so his back was to Amber.

Amber ran out of the room to hers and brought back Luca's mom's blue shirt. Luca still had his back to her as she continued to tease him.

"Ohhhh yeah, you have to be naked for the sex!" the tan gem giggled to herself as she slipped on the blue shirt that exposed the golden teardrop gem on her belly, "How do I look?"

Luca turned around for a second then turned back instantly, "You need pants!"

"Oops," Amber said as she ran back to her room.

When she had returned, she wore black capris that stretched down halfway past her calf. The gem twirled around, the blue shirt spinning with her.

"Human clothes are so comfy," Amber said, "I still can't believe that they aren't fused to your body."

"You look great in them," Luca said.

"What about without?" Amber said teasingly poking his nose.

"You look great too," Luca said, blushing as Amber frowned at him, "Was I supposed to say something else?"

"Nope," Amber said, walking out of the door, "Time for breakfast!"

"Alright," Luca said, following his lover to the kitchen.

Luca's left arm slightly bothered him but he pushed the thoughts away as he got out the eggs. Amber cracked them as Turquoise and the caretaker wandered out of their room.

"Good morning!" Amber smiled as the two nodded and sat at the table.

"You look much better, Luca," the uncle said after a bit of silence.

"Yeah?" Luca responded, "Guess who went to space?"

"You?" the uncle frowned, "But it wasn't for a good reason."

After the tension started to build up, Amber spoke, "Well, at least we got a new ship."

"Yay," Turquoise said, "Oh wait, did you take off the tracker?"

"Oh gosh," Amber said, "I'm so stupid!"

"No, you aren't, but after breakfast we will need to jumble the coordinates and destroy it," Turquoise smiled as Amber placed the omelet on her plate.

"Okay," Amber said, finishing her rounds around the table.

Soon enough, breakfast was over and Amber and Turquoise made their way to the ship. Amber opened the hatch and hopped in as Luca watched from a couple feet away. The tan gem beckoned to him as he followed her. Inside the ship, it was warm and yellow, similar to Yellow Diamond's gem.

Turquoise went to the back panel and started to pull it off. It instantly fell on top of her. No tracker was located where it was supposed to be until the three people had taken apart the whole ship. Luca saw it underneath the steering board and tried to touch it. Amber jumped in front of him and grabbed the tracker as it turned red, throwing it at Turquoise who punched it into the atmosphere.

"Phew," Turquoise said, "That could have been bloody."

"Yeah," Luca said, wiping his brow.

Amber and Turquoise walked out of the ship, "Oh crud school starts in like twenty minutes."

"Oh no!" Amber said to Turquoise as she and Luca put on their shoes and ran out the door.

"I am going to fix up the ship with the caretaker while you are gone, guys!" Turquoise called out.

"Thanks!" Amber said, "Let's fly it later, right Luca?"

"Yeah," Luca said.

The two marched off to school and quickly went to their first class. School was long and boring for the two, but they managed to get through it. Rita wasn't there, as she had gotten sick from the dance so Amber had hardly anyone to interact with when Luca wasn't with her.

Amber and Luca waited impatiently for the bell to ring and when it finally did, the two began their walk home. They held hands as cars rushed by and they passed pedestrians. When the two had gotten to the barn, Amber and Turquoise gave Luca the safety talk. He got into the ship followed by Amber and Turquoise and sat in the pilot's seat. The tan gem sat at a computer and set up the commands while the light blue gem sat at another computer to set up the ship's Intel.

"Now you are going to place your hands on the command board," Amber said from her seat, "And lift up the ship, like this."

"Okay," Luca said, lifting up the ship decently enough.

"Good, now it's in hover mode," Amber said, "I am going to change the gears right now. Just stay still."

Luca nodded, keeping his hands on the board. The ship hovered just above the house and was making a quiet whirring sound. Turquoise tapped several times at her computer and the ship started to lift up higher.

"Hey Amber?" Luca asked.

"Yeah?" Amber responded.

"How were you able to fly this ship without any help?" Luca asked.

"I am specifically a technician gem, I already know all of the commands to input into the main frame. Thousands of memories are imbedded into my head," Amber said, "You are human so you probably don't have those memories. Plus, I had to run around to all four of the computers fairly quickly so that I could take care of you."

"Oh," Luca said, "Thanks again, for saving me."

"Sure," Amber smiled, "Okay, now pull up."

Luca did so and the ship smoothly dashed into the sky. It kept on going until it reached space and it stopped abruptly. Amber made the ship display the outside world. Stars scattered the area around them, glowing and twinkling as Luca looked on in awe at the sights. The Earth almost seemed to glow with the light of the sun.

"Where do you want to go, Luca?" Amber said.

"How about Neptune," Luca replied after thinking on the decision for a minute.

"Okay," Amber said, "Lift to the right."

The ship zoomed to Neptune's side within an hour. Luca stared at the planet, eyeing its blue beauty, the gaseous giant seeming happy that it was getting some visitors.

"Wow, this is amazing," Luca said, "I can't believe that we are right next to Neptune!"

"This ship can go all the way to Homeworld and back in six hours," Turquoise chirped, "It's one of the fastest moving ships they have."

"Yeah, I have only flown one of these twice," Amber said, reminiscing, "Yesterday and when I arrived here."

"Hey Amber?" Turquoise said, sullen faced.

"What's up?" Amber asked getting out of her chair to walk over to Turquoise, "Oh…"

"What's wrong?" Luca asked.

"We have a really bad leak," Amber said slowly, "I can go fix it but I am going to need a supporter."

"I can he-" Luca began to say.

"No," Amber said, "You will be deprived of oxygen for too long."  
Turquoise formed a gem space suit similar to hers and gave it to Luca. Amber did the same for herself and formed a helmet. She shoved it on Luca's head and smacked open the hatch. Turquoise and Amber quickly went outside and crawled on the ship with the spare gas tank they had found dangling on the hull.

They fixed the leak and hurriedly crawled along the ship back to Luca. His body lay on the ceiling. Tears rushed down Amber's cheeks as the two rushed in and closed the hatch. Amber caught Luca's limp body in her arms and sunk to the floor. She touched his chest; it was so cold that ice had started to form. Her thoughts drifted all the way from sadness to desperately desiring to save his life. Amber felt a weird feeling in her arms as she touched his heart area. Luca jolted awake suddenly after several small strikes of electricity left Amber's fingers.

"Whoa," Luca said, "What was that?"

Amber looked at her fingers as electricity crackled across them. She tried to stop the strikes by waving her hands around but nothing was working.

The tan gem tried to get away from her lover to prevent any more electricity from travelling to his body but she failed. Luca wrapped his tired arms around her as she tried to push him away. The strikes subsided as their lips met and she calmed herself down.

"I have electricity as a power?" Amber said, when they broke apart, "But Ambers and Peridots don't have powers like these."

"Maybe you are special," Luca said, "What even happened to me?"

"I was being irrational when I shoved the helmet on you without a means of oxygen," Amber said, looking away, "We didn't even shut the hatch, you floated upwards and probably hit your precious head on the ceiling."

"That's okay, you wanted to fix the leak before anything happens," Luca smiled, stroking his lover's cheeks, "Besides, you fixed me up anyways."

Amber sighed heavily and without looking at Luca she spoke, "Turquoise can you let him rest on the bench seat? I can take us home."

"Yeah," Turquoise said, lifting Luca up and into her arms.

Soon enough, Luca had fallen asleep and within the hour, they could see Earth. Amber took the ship down until they reached the barn, lightly hovering above the ground. The ship floated to the soft grass below and Luca's cold body was gently carried inside to his bed.

He was unable to go to work today but Amber still went alone. She took care of his portion of work until nine o' clock and headed home. Luca had just woken up by the time she got back. Amber made a small and simple dinner of chicken noodle soup at his request. Turquoise and the caretaker were both already asleep in their room so the two had some alone time.

Luca started to lift the silver spoon to eat his warm meal, "Hey, Amber? It wasn't your fault."

"I am so sorry," Amber said, "It really is all my fault, I keep on almost killing you. Maybe one day, you will die for real…"

"It's not your fault, all humans will die eventually," Luca said, placing his hand on Amber's collarbone, "Stop blaming yourself."

Amber choked on her tears, "Luca, are you sure you want me? I am always causing trouble for you…"

"I am sure," Luca smiled, bringing his lips to Amber's.

"I love you," Amber said between breaths.

"I love you too," Luca said, "Let's stay together forever."  
"Yes," Amber said.

After Luca was done eating his soup, Amber put the bowl away and lay next to him. She fell asleep next to his steadily warming up body.

In the morning, Amber awoke to Luca moving out of the bed. He got dressed in formal wear for some reason, but Amber thought nothing of it as she stretched. The tan gem rolled out of bed and sat at the desk to do last minute homework. She heard a bump and tilted her head at her lover as he looked underneath the bed. He brought out a black box and looked at it as if to make sure it wasn't damaged in any way.

"Amber, do you think you could form a dress version of your usual outfit?" Luca asked while grinning widely.

"Sure," Amber said.

She formed a long sleeveless two-piece dress that exposed her golden belly gem. Pale yellow gloves stretched from her fingers to her elbows. Luca pulled out a small golden necklace with a diamond in the center from the black box.

"What's that?" Amber asked, wondering what her lover was doing.

"It's a gift for you, I have been saving up," Luca said, "Come here."  
"Okay," Amber smiled as Luca gently put the necklace around her neck.

"You make the necklace look beautiful," Luca smiled as Amber blushed blue.

"Thank you for this, Luca," Amber said, holding Luca's hands.

"Anything for you, my princess," Luca said.

The two danced around for a bit in their outfits. Amber knew now that gem-like fusion couldn't be attempted between a gem and a human but she had a small desire to try human fusion. She was madly in love with her human and wanted to get closer and closer to him.

When they had finished their dance, the two made breakfast and sat on the couch together. The caretaker and Turquoise were still sleeping so Luca and Amber ate without them.

"Do you want to have the sex with me, Luca?" Amber asked.

"I think we should wait a bit longer until you have had Health Class," Luca said.

His lover smiled, "Okay, we can wait."


	14. Mind Read

Spring break was finally here and the group wanted to go to Steven's house for the week. Amber and Turquoise had practiced forming swimsuits and Luca had bought a new one as he had hardly ever gone swimming. The drive was a whopping thirteen hours but Beach City was a refreshing sight. Luca and Amber reminisced the time they spent here, it was either positive or negative, they couldn't decide.

When they got to Steven's house, the group stretched. The caretaker walked to the door and knocked on it a few times.

Steven answered cheerfully, "Hey guys!"

"Hi Steven," Amber smiled, "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Steven looked nervously away from Amber, "How are you?"

"I am alright," Amber said slowly remembering the events that had happened the last time they had interacted, "Hey Steven? It's alright, we are closer than ever."

"Alright," Steven said, walking inside the house with everyone following him, "Okay guys, this is Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. Everyone, this is Luca, Amber, Turquoise and Luca's uncle."

Everyone greeted each other and within ten minutes of talking, Greg arrived. Him and Luca's uncle hugged the second they could. When they broke apart, Greg was introduced to the rest of the group. It was arranged that the four could stay at a house owned by the uncle thirty minutes away.

It was dinnertime at Steven's house so the group helped out. Amber, Turquoise and Pearl made a dinner of lasagna and garlic bread while Greg and the uncle reminisced about their pasts. Soon enough, dinner was served on the table and everyone sat down to eat. Only Pearl and Garnet didn't eat the food.

"Have you two fused yet?" Garnet asked after a bit of silence.

"Yes, we have," Amber said, "We make Tourmaline."

"That's great," Garnet said, excitedly, "Can I see you after you finish?"

"Yes," Turquoise smiled, "Hey Greg what is eating you?"

Greg looked up from his plate to Turquoise, "Nothing really."

"Tell me about your clients then, what's wrong with one of them?" Turquoise asked, innocently.

"Tur," the uncle said, "Don't read Greg's mind, it's rude."

"But you are curious too!" Turquoise argued, "You want to know what's going on with his life."

"It's not my decision to make him tell us what's going on," the uncle said, "Can you get out of my head please?"

"Yes," Turquoise said, frowning.

When the tension had cleared, Garnet spoke, "Turquoise, can you read my mind?"

"Yeah, I can," Turquoise said, "You are thinking about what you are going to do with Jasper. Who is Jasper by the way? Oh she is a friend that the small green gem stabbed."

"Wow," Garnet said, "That's good mind-reading."

"You are a fusion?" Turquoise asked, "That's cool! Steven can fuse with a human and Amethyst? That's awesome!"

"Okay, get out of my head," Garnet said, smiling, "Time for you to two fuse."

"Alright!" Turquoise said, hopping up, "Whoa I forgot how dizzy I get when I look deeply in someone's mind."

Amber grabbed her hand and pulled her outside, "Let us dance?"

"Sure," Turquoise said, taking Amber's hand.

The group watched as the two had a fun time fusing. To complete the dance, Amber jumped into Turquoise's arms. When they fused, Tourmaline twirled around and looked at herself then at the others, waving. Garnet smiled as the fusion showed off its moves, she had always loved seeing new fusions.

Tourmaline pulled out a small knife and formed gloves to touch the sand. Electricity coursed through the ripples of the grains as the blue and orange gem ran around with her now elongated knife. Soon enough, a burning heart was carved in front of Steven's house. It was perfect in shape and after it was done burning, crystals formed around the carving.

"How is that you guys?" the fusion asked fairly excitedly as it started to glow.

Amber and Turquoise fell on their butts in the sand, thankfully they hadn't fell on the crystals. Luca ran over to Amber and Turquoise and immediately helped them up. The two couldn't stop laughing about whatever was between them.

"That was fun wasn't it?" Turquoise giggled.

"Yeah!" Amber said, "I had no idea electricity could do that."

"What are you two going to do with those crystals?" Pearl asked, "They need to be removed lest a person step on them."

Amber and Turquoise cleaned up the crystals and put them in a pile near Steven's house. The rest of the group went inside to hang out while Luca helped the two clean up. Within the hour, everything had been taken care of and the three went inside. The sun had set by the time Turquoise, Luca, Amber, and the uncle left for their temporary house.

It had two rooms and pictures were hung up all over the walls. Amber picked up one that displayed a man with dark brown hair and a bright smile.

"Who's that?" Luca asked his uncle.

"He was a really good friend…" the uncle frowned.

Amber cleaned off the dust from the picture as Turquoise leaned on the caretaker and whispered something in his ear. He walked off, holding the light blue gem's hand, she must have read his mind and wanted to comfort him.

"Oh… He has on a military uniform," Luca said, "See the badges and ranking?"

"Yeah," Amber said, "Oh look it's a red, white and blue flag."

Luca looked down, "He must have died in combat."

"Why?" Amber asked, tilting her head.

"Some people join the army to serve their country. It's only natural that someone will die every once in a while," Luca said, almost mechanically, "These are probably his ashes."

Amber held the jar and looked inside, "Ashes… He was burned alive?"

"No no," Luca said, "He died and then was cremated."

"Okay," Amber nodded, "Should we ask the caretaker about him tomorrow?"

"If you want to," Luca said, "It might hurt him though. Let's go to bed."

"Alright," Amber said, pulling the covers over so that Luca could get in, "I have had Health Class, want to have the sex?"

"Wrong time, Amber," Luca said.

"Aw," Amber smiled as she placed her head on Luca's shoulder and instantly fell asleep.

In the morning, Turquoise made breakfast for everyone, as she was the first up. The caretaker came out of his room and hugged the light blue gem; they had had a long talk about the man in the picture.

Luca and Amber sat at the table and ate their omelets quietly. Amber kept on making little glances to the caretaker who seemed focused on his meal.

"Can you tell me more about the guy from the picture, Luca says he died," Amber said as Luca choked a little on his food.

"He did die, a little bit before Luca was born," the caretaker said, "We were partners since High School."

"How did he die?" Amber asked.

"His base camp was bombed…" the caretaker frowned, "Everyone died."

"I'm sorry," Amber frowned.

"Don't be," the caretaker smiled, "He was a great lover and person."

"Do you still miss him?" Amber questioned.

"Yeah," the caretaker said, "Very much so."

Luca stared at his plate of food and after a while, continued to eat it. They were going to have a busy, fun-filled day at Steven's house so he needed to get some energy. Amber cleaned up the plates and did the dishes and within the next thirty minutes, everyone had gotten into the car.

Luca had had no idea that his uncle was gay, but he accepted him for his sexual preference. He had always thought he was with Turquoise but it was becoming quite apparent that she was only there for him as a comforter. They agreed not to be together, but to be there for each other. Half an hour later, the car pulled up to Steven's house. Steven ran outside and greeted everyone cheerfully jumping up and down. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl were waiting somewhat patiently at the table.

"Hey guys!" Steven said, excitedly, "We are going for a hike today!"

"Cool," Amber said, "Where to?"

"Maybe we can hike to the barn and stay there the night?" Steven asked, thoughtfully, "Then you all can meet Peridot and Lapis."

"I think I am going to hang out with Greg today, Steven," the caretaker said, "Is that alright?"

"Yeah," Steven said, "He is at the wash right now. Have fun!"

"I will," the caretaker smiled, "Bye guys."

Turquoise smiled and waved goodbye as the group walked over to the house. Steven put on some hiking shoes and Pearl enthusiastically gave Luca water and a hat.

"Let's go guys!" Steven said.

"Yeah!" the group replied.

Ten minutes into walking, Amethyst sighed, "It's a really long walk… Are you sure you guys want to do this?"

"You are a Crystal Gem, Amethyst, you should be able to walk two hours to the barn," Garnet said.

Amber chuckled to herself while holding Luca's hand. The two followed Steven up the steep hill.

When they got to the top, Turquoise sighed heavily, "I thought it was over."

"Same," Luca said.

"Oh well," Amber smiled, "Looks like there is another couple hills."

"Yep," Steven said, smiling.

When the group got to the barn, Peridot and Lapis waved hello. Amber stared at the barn; it was similar to hers except for the fact that hers was much smaller. It was a little bit awkward for her to talk to Peridot as she remembered her as being weak.

"Hi Amber," Peridot smiled, "How are you?"  
Peridot was strangely nice to the tan gem, "I am good, how about you?"

"Fine, thanks," the light green gem had to look up to Amber, but she seemed fine with it, "How are things going with Luca?"

"I am trying to have the sex with him, but he keeps on putting it off," Amber said.

"What's the sex?" Peridot asked.

"Never mind," Amber said, "Luca looks tired, do you have water?"

"Yeah," Peridot said, "Here you go."

"Thanks," Amber said, taking the bottle from Peridot and walking over to Luca.

"What were you talking about with Peridot?" Luca asked, "You look guilty."

"I was talking about the sex," Amber said.

Luca put his hand to his face, "She doesn't even know what it is."  
"I know, here have some water," Amber said, sheepishly playing with her hair.

"Thanks," Luca said, "Sorry for talking to you like that."

"It's okay," Amber smiled, "I just never know what you are thinking."

"Me either sometimes," Luca said.

Lapis stayed where she was in the barn, watching some weird show. She preferred Peridot's and Steven's company the most out of everyone that was there. The blue gem saw Turquoise and was reminded of her past, as one of her kind had broken her gem. She flew over to the light blue gem and looked at her for a second. Her eye was covered by short black hair.

"Hello, Lapis," Turquoise said, "You have a very nice house."

"Thanks," Lapis said, staring at the tall gem.

"What are you worried about?" Turquoise asked gently, "I am sorry if one of my kind hurt you."

"Get out of my head, it feels weird," Lapis said slightly angrily.

"Sorry about that," Turquoise said, "It's just a horrible habit that I have. I will remove myself."

Lapis' eye twitched, "Just stay away from me for a while."

"Okay," Turquoise said, walking over to Amber, "Maybe I shouldn't have come."

"No, I am glad that you did," Amber said, "She is probably just a little bit stressed because we are new visitors."

Steven introduced the three visitors to the pool. He put his feet in the pool along with Luca while Amber was taken around with Turquoise to look at meep morps.

"These are true pieces of art," Amber said.

"They are called meep morps," Lapis frowned.

"I know," Amber said, "But I learned about how they are classified in an art class."

"Whatever," Lapis said.

Amber took Turquoise's hand and walked outside of the barn to Luca. She sat down next to him and touched the water, pooling it in her hands. The tan gem leaned on her lover as his arm wrapped around her body. Closing her eyes, Amber kissed his cheek while Turquoise lay down in the tall grass beside them. Turquoise accidentally reached into Steven's mind and saw images of Rose Quartz and of Lapis' nature. She released her grip the instant Steven looked to her, staring at him still.

 _"I am so sorry,"_ Turquoise communicated, sitting up and holding her hands to her face.

Steven shook his head, _"No, it's really cool that you can do that, but it's also probably the reason Lapis got mad at you."_

 _"Yeah,"_ Turquoise frowned, _"Do you know how to make her feel better?"_

 _"She takes her time with getting used to people,"_ Steven communicated, _"I wouldn't worry about her."_

 _"Okay,"_ Turquoise communicated, breaking the connection.

Steven smiled and kicked the water a bit. Amber looked to him and smiled, skipping a rock across. Peridot walked out of the barn to pool with a frown on her face.

Turquoise accidentally reached into her mind, it was strange, full of thousands of years of memories similar to Amber's. However, further back were memories of fun times and scary times with Steven and the Crystal Gems. She saw Lapis looking sad and telling Peridot about how Turquoise looked unwillingly into her mind. Turquoise's eye glowed a bit more as she unintentionally saw Peridot's hidden memories.

Peridot looked to her and Turquoise instantly felt guilty. The light blue gem released her grip and ran off.

"Tur?" Amber shouted at her friend, "Where are you going?"

Turquoise didn't respond, she just kept running away. The group stood up and started to run after the gem.

"Did she read your mind?" Steven asked Peridot.

"Yeah," Peridot said, "I think so. Gems that can go that far in the mind of another gem usually get very tired. She won't go far, we might as well walk."

Amber narrowed her eyes at Peridot, "Turquoise is stronger than you think."

Peridot shrugged and continued to run. Luca and Amber ran together as they practically had the same stamina while Steven ran just behind them. Soon enough, Peridot caught sight of Turquoise and ran faster than the group.

The tall light blue gem saw the small green gem and knew she had to face the music. Her gem ached; she had never been this deep in another gem before, not even in Amber. She stopped running and fell onto her knees, heaving heavily. Peridot stood still, unsure of what to do with Turquoise.

"Are you okay?" the small green gem asked after a bit of silence.

"Yes," Turquoise said, "I am just fine."

She looked to Peridot and accidentally read her mind. The green gem was confused but she wasn't mad at all. Turquoise couldn't stop herself as she looked into more personal memories, the fusion attempt, the comforting of Lapis, and something she couldn't quite make-out.

Turquoise released the green gem and fell on her side, curling up into a ball. Peridot knelt by her and told her everything was going to be okay.

"You have quite the awesome power," Peridot said, "You don't need to hide it, but I think it hurts you to use it."

"It does," Turquoise sobbed, "And everyone hates it, they just won't tell me."

"We don't hate it but we do hate that it hurts you," Peridot said, she figured she was bad enough at comforting others but she wanted to help out, "Look at me and try not to read."

Turquoise looked at Peridot's calm face and focused on not reading her. She felt relief when she could no longer see into the gem's mind.

"I'm so sorry about this," Turquoise said, "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I know," Peridot said as the other half of the group rushed over the hill.

"Tur are you okay?" Amber asked.

"I am going to be," Turquoise said, sitting up.

The tan gem hugged her friend and they instantly fused. Tourmaline stretched, putting everyone into her hands. They rode all the way back to the barn where Amber and Turquoise unfused, hugging.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were waiting for them with dinner. Luca was hungry, as he hadn't eaten since the morning. The last bit of sun set as he, Amber, Steven, and Amethyst ate their pizza. Peridot and Turquoise sat together, splitting a piece of pizza. Lapis didn't care much, but she was a little bit jealous of Turquoise.

"You guys look like you just went for a nice run," Pearl said.

"Yeah," Steven said, "It was a good run, Pearl."

Amethyst burped and ate the whole pizza box while Luca and Amber finished up. Amber had a dying question to ask Garnet after dinner so she twiddled her thumbs as the plates were cleared. Peridot went back into the barn with a piece of pizza while sleeping bags were set up.

"I am going to go talk to Garnet," Amber said, "I have a really important question."

"Okay," Luca said, kissing Amber's lips, "Good luck."

"Alright," Amber said, walking off to where Garnet sat on a hay bale.

"Hello, Amber," Garnet said, "You have a question for me?"

"Yes," Amber said, scratching her head nervously, "How do I have the sex with Luca?"

"The sex?" Garnet asked, "Oh, well you need to have the parts. Right now you have hardly anything humans use to have it. Rose had to develop those parts so that she could have Steven."

"Oh," Amber said, "How do I get them?"

"You have to envision them and form them," Garnet said, "It might take a while, but you need to get out of those human clothes and form the organs."

Amber did so and with minutes, she had human parts, "Okay what now?"

"Well first off, you need to adjust some parts," Garnet said, "They are a bit too extreme."

"Fine," Amber huffed, "How is this?"

"It's good, now you have to get dressed and sleep next to him," Garnet said, "Don't make him have sex with you, you both have to want it."

"Okay," Amber said, walking away, "Thanks."

Garnet leaned back on the hay bale and relaxed, closing her eyes while Amber went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be another big day for everyone so she wanted to get some rest too.


	15. Dauntless Taunts

"Good morning, Luca," Amber said as she saw her lover stir awake.

"Yup," Luca said, "What time is it?"

"Hmm," Amber said, looking up, "Probably eight or something."

"Okay," Luca said to Amber, "How do you think Turquoise is holding up? She slept by herself last night."

"She should be fine, maybe she slept with Steven," Amber said, stretching.

Luca unzipped the sleeping bag and the two got out. Amber walked over to where Steven slept, low and behold; Turquoise lay next to him, Pearl, and Amethyst. Pearl was sitting up, watching the group sleep as if she was protecting them. She waved a little and pointed down while smiling Amber grabbed Luca's hand and walked away, not wanting to wake the group up either.

The two found Garnet, sitting in the same place as she was on the hay bale. She seemed concentrated on something but she still nodded her head at the two as they walked by. Peridot and Lapis were in the barn, watching some weird cartoon shows. Amber waved at them, but only Peridot waved back with a smile. The two went and sat at the bench. Luca called his uncle and asked him how he was and what he did the other day. He said that him and Greg went for a drink and that they are working together at the car wash today. It turned out that they were staying at the barn for another day.

Luca hung up and Amber found enough ingredients to make pancakes with. She smiled at him and the two ended up making blue berry pancakes over the mini stove Amber made. Steven walked over to the picnic table after smelling breakfast. Amethyst grumbled after him and Pearl went to check on Garnet. Amber served Steven, Luca, and Amethyst their food. Turquoise still hadn't come out yet, but Amber saved her a couple pancakes as she sat down to eat with everyone.

Steven's eyes turned into stars, "This is so good!"

"It is," Amethyst said, "Can I have more?"

"Yes of course," Amber said, getting up to give the purple gem a few more pancakes.

Amethyst gulped them down and burped as Amber sat back down. Turquoise walked over and sat next to Amber.

The tan gem got up and served Turquoise her pancakes, pouring syrup on them. Turquoise thanked her and had a taste as everyone watched her.

"These are so good!" the light blue gem said, eating the rest of the pancakes.

"I am glad that you think that," Amber smiled.

After everyone had finished their breakfast, Steven wanted to play games. The first game consisted of running laps around the barn. Amethyst, Pearl, Garnet, Lapis, and Peridot sat back and watched as Amber ran around with Steven, Turquoise, and Luca. Luca finished dead last while Steven finished first.

"Gosh it's hard being one of the only humans here," Luca said in between breaths.

Steven looked to him and smiled, "At least you finished."

"Yep," Luca said, taking a swig of a water bottle Amber had brought him.

The tan gem grabbed Luca's wrist, "Come on! Let's start ball-throwing!"

"Phew," Luca said, "Girls, right?"

"Yeah," Steven smiled.

Steven came in second as Amber threw the ball a bit farther than him. She jumped several times as Luca and Steven went to the next activity. Luca desperately wanted to be anything other than last so he tried his hardest on the fencing activity. He faced Turquoise as Pearl gave them swords.

Luca swung and hit the light blue gem in the side. She shrugged as she was knocked to her knees. Amber put her hands to her face and the second Luca looked away, Turquoise smacked his cheek. He was pushed sideways quite a bit, but he quickly picked himself up and charged the light blue gem.

"Gosh, seems like you can take a hit," Turquoise said, socking Luca in the face.

Luca threw his dulled sword on the ground and socked the gem in the jaw. He had to practically look up to her, but he tried glaring. The tall blue gem kicked him in the ribs.

By this time, Steven had run up to the two, "Hey! Stop fighting you guys!"

 _"Luca, guess what? You have a life span,"_ Turquoise communicated, _"Amber won't need you anymore when you're old and gray."_

Luca groaned and picked himself up, facing Turquoise, "I don't know what is up to you today, but I am going to take you down."

As the punches unfolded, Pearl wondered if she should do something, but Garnet told her not to interfere. This fight had to be finished and Turquoise had to cool herself off. Luca felt something finger-like in his brain as he was fighting. Soon enough, he was throwing dizzy punches at Turquoise, usually missing. Amber started to tear up as she watched two of her friends fight. She ran without thinking into the middle of the fray. Luca and Turquoise's punches landed on her chest and back almost simultaneously. The pain had frozen her movement but she managed to fall backward onto Luca's fist.

She blinked rapidly as the two removed their hands and placed them on her. Amber looked to Steven and smiled, closing her eyes.

"I got you two to stop fighting," she said, "But what was it about?"

"Amber… I'm so sorry," Turquoise said, "I was getting into the fight and then I bullied Luca and he got mad."

"I'm so sorry, Amber," Luca said, "Turquoise put her tendrils in my mind and I just lost it."

"It's fine, but you guys shouldn't fight over little things like that, this was supposed to be a fun game of strength testing," Amber croaked, picking herself off of Luca.

She stood tall, both of her friends on the ground. Amber held the dulled sword and hit the both of them on the head.

"Now shake hands," the tan gem said, "And apologize."

Turquoise and Luca followed her instructions and looked to Amber for more information. She shook her head as her body recovered fairly quickly.

"Let me recover and I will fight you both," Amber frowned.

"What?" Turquoise and Luca asked at the same time.

"I will fight the two of you together," Amber said, sternly as her body formed back on her chest where Turquoise had hit, "I worked so hard to form these…"

The tan gem trotted off and Luca and Turquoise looked to each other, "Gosh, I lost myself."

Luca nodded, "Same here. I can't believe we hit her."

"I can," Garnet said to the two, "You were being stupid and didn't pay attention to your surroundings."

Turquoise rubbed her forehead several times. She was awfully dizzy, but still stood up, helping Luca. He shook his head; he wasn't going to hurt his lover ever again, even if she wanted to fight him. Luca knew her weakness, but she also knew his. Twenty minutes later, Amber came back looking fresh. Her blue shirt had been destroyed in the chest area but she still decided to fight.

Steven counted down to three and Luca and Turquoise got into battle formation, waiting for Amber to move. She didn't move for a few minutes and just stared at her two friends. All of a sudden, the gem ran up to Turquoise and knocked her gently to the ground alongside Luca.

"Is that all that you have?" Amber asked, tauntingly.

The two came at her with all they had but she always got the best of them. Luca had her weakness in his mind when he lunged at the gem. Their lips met and Steven blocked his eyes as Luca pushed her on her butt.

"How about we continue this later?" he whispered.

Amber flushed blue, "Luca! This was supposed to be a serious fight."

"This is how you win, you know your enemy's weakness," Luca smiled.

Garnet nodded, "He's right."

Pearl leaned on Garnet, "Are you sure they are going to be an okay couple?"

"Yes," Garnet smiled, "I am."

Amethyst booed when the fight was over but she got to eat the metal on the dulled swords so she was fine. Peridot liked to watch Amethyst be herself so she giggled. Lapis had been called out by the noise, but she retreated back inside after she figured everything was fine.

The three fighters got cleaned up and by the time they were finished, lunch was on the table. Amber and Luca scarfed down their food while Turquoise took hers slowly. When Turquoise was done, she suggested a party for later that night. Everyone agreed that there should be one, but no one agreed on what theme. Eventually, Steven' theme of lights won and Peridot and Lapis got materials for it.

It took them several hours, but the group managed to decorate the exterior of the barn while Garnet had made a patio over the picnic table. Pearl wrapped the golden lights around the beams, illuminating the eating area. Amethyst sprinkled some Christmas lights on the water tower while Peridot made sure that everything had long enough extension cords. Amber, Turquoise, Luca, and Steven folded and cut out stars to hang from the lights.

Pretty soon, it was evening and everyone had finished decorating. Steven and Luca sat next to each other on the picnic table, talking about how they liked seeing everyone work together. Amber was barbecuing some vegetables and steak while Turquoise and Pearl mashed the potatoes. Garnet and Amethyst brought soda from the fridge in the barn. They poured it in each cup until the bottles were empty and placed the cups at each plate.

Low music played while the food was eaten. Amethyst finished first and started to dance next to Garnet. Pearl started to clean up the dishes and joined the two. Peridot turned up the music on her iPad and began to dance next to Amethyst. Amber, Luca, and Steven got up and started dancing as Turquoise walked over to them. Soon enough, everyone was dancing in pairs, Pearl and Garnet, Peridot and Amethyst, Amber and Luca, Turquoise and Steven. Lapis wasn't very interested in dancing so she watched from the barn.

When they had finished dancing, Steven was so tired; he fell asleep in Garnet's arms. Luca chuckled a little bit, remembering when he was younger that he would fall asleep in his parent's arms.

He walked off with Garnet to help get his sleeping bed ready, "How old is he again?"

"Steven is fourteen years old," Garnet smiled, "Still growing."

"Yeah," Luca said, getting out the sleeping bag, "So how did Rose Quartz and Greg make him?"

"They had sexual intercourse," Garnet said sternly.

"Oh," Luca said as the tall red gem tucked Steven in, "But gems don't have human parts so how was that possible?"

"They can form them but it takes a tremendous effort out of the body," Garnet said slowly, "Rose Quartz… She withered away after Steven was born."

"Is it for sure to happen?" Luca asked, slowly bringing his hand from his mouth, "Will it always happen to all gems that give birth?"

"I'm not sure," Garnet said, "It would be tremendously painful for a few months even if they survived though. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," Luca said, "Thanks for the information."

"Anytime," Garnet said whilst smiling at Steven's sleeping face.

Luca walked back to Amber and Turquoise, telling them he was going to have an early night. Turquoise didn't feel like sleeping so she decided to clean up alongside Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot. Amber went to bed, as she wanted to spend time with Luca. The fight was still on her mind, what did he mean?

Amber wandered to the sleeping bag only to find that Luca wasn't there. She walked a bit more and saw his phone light up on the hill. The gem ran to him and within seconds, reached his side.

"Luca what's wrong? Isn't it bedtime?" Amber asked.

"I'm only going to hurt you," Luca frowned, looking away from the tan gem.

"What do you mean?" Amber asked, reaching out to Luca.

He pushed her hand away, "If you get pregnant you will die… Forever."

"Where is this coming from?" Amber asked.

"I went to see Garnet and she said that Rose Quartz withered away after giving birth to Steven," Luca said, still avoiding eye contact, "Amber if we have intercourse then there is a big chance you will wither away."

"Isn't that what a condom is for?" Amber said, tilting her head, "Listen, if you don't want to do it, then I don't either."

"It's not that," Luca said, his eyes slightly watering, "I want to have kids with you that we raise and watch them grow up."

Amber felt tears coming, "I can give you kids! I promise I won't disappear, just don't leave me!"

The tan gem kissed Luca on the lips and the two made-out several times. Amber couldn't stop looking at Luca's eyes, as they turned from sad to hopeful. He lay her down and leaned forward in between her legs, kissing her neck. A hand felt her chest and he awkwardly looked to the tan gem.

"You formed sexual organs already?" he asked.

"Yeah," Amber said, chuckling, "Turquoise destroyed them today so I had to reform."

"Didn't that hurt?" Luca said.

"Of course," Amber smiled, "But it's alright."

"Okay," Luca said, "Would you like to take things slow?"

"Yeah," Amber said, "Let's go to bed for now."

"I'm good with that," Luca smiled, standing up and scooping Amber into his arms to kiss her on the lips.

Luca carried Amber to their sleeping bag and placed her down underneath the cover. He lay down next to her and the two started to cuddle in each other's arms. In just minutes, they had fallen fast asleep under the soft light of the Milky Way Galaxy.


	16. Beautiful Day

Amber waded through the water whilst holding her lover's hand. The sun was high in the sky as waves ran along the shore. Turquoise held Amber's other hand as they went further into the water. Soon enough, the salty blue liquid was up to Amber's knees. She decided this was the perfect spot to hang out, especially when the water was this passive. Steven ran out to the three with a beach ball followed by Peridot and Amethyst. Pearl and Garnet hung out under an umbrella and watched the six friends play together.

The ball was hit from way up high into Turquoise's arms by Amethyst. It bounced off and went over the net next to Steven who hit it right into the air. Amber bounced it to Luca who spiked it right through Peridot's arms. The small green gem groaned and muttered something about height, picking up the beach ball and serving it over the net. Luca hit it over yet again to Amethyst who spiked it at Amber.

"Take that shorty!" the purple gem shouted.

"I will!" Amber said, hitting the beach ball as hard as she could into the air.

Luca spiked it over to Steven, who gently bounced it back over the net. Turquoise bounced it up as high as she could and Amber hit it right over and into Amethyst's grasp.

The purple gem missed the ball and sighed rather loudly. Peridot calmed her down and they continued the game. After they were all tired, they ran to the sand and lay on their towels to dry off. Amethyst joined Garnet and Pearl to talk about whatever they were doing for the rest of the week. Turquoise lay next to Peridot and the two talked about building things. Amber and Luca lay with Steven in between them. He wanted to talk about all kinds of interesting things like how he got Centipeetle to her friends and how he faced his fears as Stevonnie.

Steven was going to have Connie over today to meet Luca, Turquoise, and Amber. The small black-haired girl was shy for a bit, but when she got used to the new group, she was the most outgoing. She ended up eating dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with everyone that night. They did a short karaoke together and shortly afterwards, had s'mores by the fire on the beach. After Connie left, Luca's uncle came back, slightly inebriated. Everyone said goodbye and went over to the caretaker's house to sleep.

The ride home was quiet; Luca drove with Amber in the front seat while his uncle slept next to Turquoise, leaning against her shoulder. Amber grabbed Luca's hand and smiled as if she was telling him thanks for the day. The yellow moon began to set behind the mountains as the car made its way up to the spare house. Waves could be heard crashing along the cliffs when Amber and Luca got out of the vehicle. Turquoise helped the caretaker into the house and into their bed. Amber and Luca crawled into bed and instantly fell asleep in each other's arms.

In the morning, Amber could smell something wonderful coming from the kitchen. She woke Luca up and the two went to the location of the delicious smell. The caretaker was baking French toast on challah bread alongside Turquoise, who was making a smoothie. Amber and Luca sat down at the kitchen table and were served their breakfasts within a few minutes. Everything was so quiet, but it was okay, silence could be nice sometimes. After breakfast, Amber suggested going to the aquarium.

"We can look at fish there, right?" the tan gem asked, smiling.

"Yeah," Luca said, "Do you guys want to come?"

"Not really," the uncle said, "I'm still feeling a bit under the weather. But you two can still go."

"Okay," Amber said, "I hope you feel better."

"Thanks, Amber," the caretaker smiled, "Here is two hundred dollars, don't lose it."

"Two hundred?!" Amber said, almost excitedly, "Isn't that a lot?"

"It is only a bit of money for me," the caretaker said, "Go on, have fun."

Luca and Amber got themselves ready and said goodbye to the caretaker. Amber hopped in the car and looked to Luca.

"Why was the caretaker sick?" Amber asked.

"He probably had too much to drink," Luca said, slowly.

"You mean of alcohol?" Amber questioned, "The last time I had that was a long time ago. That stuff tastes bad."

"Yeah, but a lot of adults like to drink it whenever they are stressed or are with friends," Luca said, "He was with Greg and those two apparently used to drink together all the time."

"Oh," Amber said, "Look! There it is!"

"There what is?" Luca asked.

"The sign for the Arts Festival on Friday!" Amber said, "We can take your uncle and Turquoise there in a couple days."

"That sounds nice," Luca smiled, "We should ask them first though."

"Yeah," Amber said.

Luca continued to drive along the road and the two got a good view of the beach. Tomorrow, Steven was going to come and visit them, but today was a day void of visits, except for the aquarium.

After an hour and a half of driving, they had finally reached the promised place. The aquarium was gigantic and contained more fish than Amber or Luca had ever seen in one area before. Purple jellyfish caught Amber's eye and she placed her fingers on the glass. Luca smiled as he watched his lover enjoy herself. They went to an exhibit where Amber could pet manta rays. She loved running her fingers on their strangely soft skin. The tan gem giggled as Luca brought her some manta ray food. After she fed the rays, she wanted to go see the dolphins and the seals. She watched in wonder as they swam around in their tanks.

Amber saw a sign that said that there were sharks and she was immediately interested. The tan gem ran over to the exhibit and watched as gigantic fish with sharp teeth darted from the light into the shadows. One shark that was larger than the rest appeared to be chasing the smaller sharks around. Amber frowned and muttered something about how it was a big bully. Luca offered to get food for it, but the tan gem would rather feed the smaller sharks.

"What if I distracted it while you gave the food to the smaller guys?" Luca asked his lover.

"That could work," she sighed, "Just look at the little cuties."

"Okay, I will go distract it," Luca smiled, kissing Amber's forehead.

Her lover ran to the other side of the shark tank and threw some fish food into the cold water. Amber watched as the big shark swam to the other side and dumped her food into the water. The smaller sharks gobbled up the food within seconds while the larger shark took its time.

Amber giggled and ran to her lover, hugging and thanking him. He laughed as he wrapped his arms around her. The two left the aquarium with smiles on their faces and a feeling of accomplishment as they had visited all of the exhibits. They decided to go to dinner at a restaurant that overlooked the sea. The wind swayed as they were served a meal of seafood. After they finished, the two made their way to the beach. Amber formed her swimsuit and ran into the moonlit water. Luca chased after her into the waves after taking off his pants and shirt.

They played around for several minutes as the full moon began to set. Amber's lips met Luca's several times as they got closer and closer together.

"I love you so much," Amber said, between kisses.

"I love you too, Amber," Luca said.

He attempted to take her swimsuit off but realized that it was fused to her body. The two laughed at his failure and noticed that it was getting fairly late. To Luca, whenever Amber was around, time seemed to fly away much more quickly. He helped his lover into the car after she formed her usual outfit. They began to drive and within thirty minutes, the spare house was in sight. An angry caretaker and Turquoise were waiting outside along the steps.

With hands on his hips, the uncle spoke, "What were you doing? It's two o' clock in the morning."

"We were caught up at a restaurant, it took them a lot of time to make the food," Amber said, "Sorry for being so late."

"No, it's not okay," the caretaker said angrily, "Did you know that you two smell like sex?"

Amber and Luca looked to each other, "We didn't have sex, Amber and I went to the beach and played around for a bit."

"In the dark?" the caretaker asked, "Luca you are only seventeen and she is thousands of years old!"

"B-But we didn't have sex at all!" Amber said.

"Shut up," the uncle said abruptly, realizing what he had done, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

Amber frowned and looked to him but couldn't bear it. She took off running as the caretaker dropped his outstretched hand in regret.

Luca took off after her as the uncle just stared. Turquoise shoved the caretaker and communicated to him that he must be the one to make this right. He nodded and started to chase after the tan gem who had made his life so much better than it had been. Within minutes, Luca had reached where Amber sat, but he knew that his uncle had to make it right so he stood by her without speaking. When the caretaker reached the two with Turquoise by his side, he lightly touched the tan gem's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," the caretaker said, "I just worried that you had sex. If you do, and get pregnant then you will most likely die if you give birth."

Amber remained silent as she struggled to look away. She honestly loved her family and found it hard to dislike them.

Tears rolled down her cheeks, "It's okay, I just got strangely emotional when you told me to be quiet. Your tone of voice scared me."

"I know, but Amber, if you have sex, you could disappear," the caretaker said, wiping his now flowing tears from his cheeks, "It happened to Rose Quartz…"

"Yes, but I promise that I won't disappear," Amber said, standing up and grabbing the caretaker's hands, "It will never happen, I swear. But you need to just let us be "human kids" and enjoy our lives. Have a little trust in us, and Turquoise, if we did anything, you would be the first that I told."

Turquoise blushed and nodded as the caretaker wrapped his arms around Amber. When they broke apart, they all walked home together, holding hands. The stars were especially beautiful that early morning. Amber could see Homeworld and plenty of galaxies that she told the three family members about. She loved to explain things to others; maybe she could become a teacher after she finished high school with Luca. The tan gem knew that she could provide for Luca and her children if she got a job.

Everyone practically fell into their beds, as they were all exhausted. Amber and Luca continued to chat late into the morning.

"Garnet told me how to form a womb and a uterus so I can give birth," Amber said, "I also have several other organs necessary for reproduction."

"Wow, that's amazing, but if you get stabbed… then what?" Luca questioned.

"I might be in trouble," Amber said, "But my body is still made of light so at least I will have that much safety."

"Okay," Luca said, "I will be sure to get stronger and be able to take care of you."

"Thanks, honey," Amber said, kissing her lover's forehead.

He kissed her back, "How sweet you are."

The two fell asleep underneath the covers as soon as they closed their eyes. The day had been great even though it had also been hectic.


	17. New Visitor

"So Steven, where are we going?" Amber asked after several moments of silence.

"We are going to show you the gem monuments!" Steven said, cheerily.

Luca wore a space suit to protect himself, but couldn't help wondering why Steven didn't need one as they left the barn. The caretaker had decided to help out Greg with the wash again to talk more so the three visitors were without a human adult. Even so, they stepped onto a platform, but not all of them could fit. Garnet decided to stay behind with Amethyst, Peridot, and Lapis to let Pearl teach the others about the monuments. Alas, the group of five fit onto the transporter and were ready to go.

Steven activated it and everyone found themselves destabilizing into space. Seconds later, the group emerged on the Moon Base. Luca was glad that he had the once uncomfortable space suit on as he didn't have to repeat the last time he went out to space. Luca and Steven jumped high into the air together, but he wondered why the gems didn't, listening intently while Pearl gave him an extremely detailed explanation. After checking out the Moon Base, the group went back to the transporter near Steven's house.

The next transporter took them to Strawberry Fields, a land covered with strawberry plants and the swords of fallen gems. Luca liked the freedom of being in such an open and beautiful area with his lover as they held hands on the way to see new sights. Turquoise ate a few strawberries with Steven and the two decided to bring some back home to make strawberry dishes for dessert later that night. The group got onto the transporter and went home, deciding to stay there for the remainder of the day.

Dinner was served around five. It was a meal consisting of Mexican food, burritos, tacos, and enchiladas. After everyone ate, Steven, Turquoise, Amber, and Luca all made several strawberry pies. Pearl made chocolate dipped strawberries with Peridot and Amethyst while Lapis watched. Garnet invited the blue gem to help her with the strawberry cake. The group sat down at the two tables and started to eat their food. Pearl watched and smiled alongside Garnet as everyone's eyes turned to stars.

When everyone finished their delicious desserts, they decided to head back to the spare house with Luca's uncle. The group hugged and got into their car, driving off to pick up the caretaker. He hopped into the car after waving goodbye to Greg.

"How was your visit?" he asked.

"It was fun," Luca yawned, "We are going to sleep well tonight, aren't we, Amber?"

"Yeah," the tan gem replied, yawning on Turquoise's shoulder.

Luca parked the car by the spare house and walked inside with his group. He remembered that Amber and him were going to take his uncle and Turquoise to the Arts Festival tomorrow. While whispering to Amber, she smiled and told him that they were going to have a great time. The two went to sleep in their bed, basically falling into it.

In the morning, Amber woke up and made breakfast smoothies and oatmeal for the group, taking caution not to wake anyone until she was done. She woke the caretaker and Turquoise up by quietly tapping on the door. After they were up, the tan gem went to Luca and her room and stroked his toes until he woke up.

"Hey there, is it morning already?" Luca asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah," Amber said, "I made breakfast."

"Yummy," Luca said, picking himself up and putting on a shirt.

Amber and him walked out to the kitchen, where the caretaker had sat down next to Turquoise, tiredly eating the oatmeal. The tan gem danced over to the table and sat down, Luca sitting next to her.

"This is really good, Amber," the caretaker said, "Man we had a late night last night didn't we."

"Yeah," Luca said, taking a bite of his oatmeal, "So good!"

"I'm glad you guys like it," Amber smiled.

Turquoise munched away and gulped down her smoothie, "At least there are no more strawberries."

"We are all straw berried out aren't we?" Luca joked.

"Yep," Amber giggled, "Oh yeah, you guys are coming with us somewhere."

"Okay," the caretaker said.

"Where," Turquoise asked.

"It's a secret," Amber said, placing her hand on Turquoise as if to give her all the information she desired.

Turquoise read into her mind, but all she got from it was pictures of strawberries. The light blue gem chuckled, her friend was pulling her leg but she didn't want to dig in too deep into her mind.

After everyone had finished their meal, they got into the car and drove off to a new location. The Arts Festival was stocked full of beautiful creations of man and Earth. Turquoise smiled while looking at different types of gems that she wondered about. The caretaker looked at portraits of famous people and animals. Luca and Amber looked at pots and succulents, thinking about Lapis and Peridot. The two gems seemed like they might be interested in plants and things like that, so they bought several different succulents.

They met up with the remainder of the group in a most interesting section of the festival. It was a section filled with painted images of scenery. A painting of Amber and Luca holding hands on the beach stuck out to the group. The two subjects blushed while the uncle and Turquoise laughed at them.

"Oh, you two are the two from the painting I did a couple nights ago," the artist said, "You can have that one for free if you like, I couldn't help myself, you are just an amazing couple."

"Thanks," Amber smiled.

"You are a gem, right?" the artist asked with a smile as Amber nodded slightly, "Just be yourself and you will be fine."

"Okay," Amber said with a smile as she put the painting in a bag.

"Have a nice day you guys!" the artist said, waving goodbye.

"You too!" Luca said, grabbing Amber's hand as they walked away.

"Wow, you guys got busted," the uncle chuckled, "Two young people in love, not thinking about their surroundings, just happened to get caught by an artist. Tisk tisk."

Amber blushed, "We were just having a good time together, weren't we, Luca?"

"Yeah," the blond haired man said.

Amber leaned into him and the group went to the car. They were going to leave within a couple of days so they figured with the time they had left, going to Steven's house wouldn't be so bad. The group headed over to their friend's house with a surprise visit. Peridot and Lapis had gone back to the barn, but Steven willingly said that he would take the plants to them later. They decided to play in the beach whilst Greg, Amethyst, and the uncle went to see a rock concert. Pearl called someone up and she seemed awfully happy, since when did she have a phone? Amber and Luca splashed each other as Turquoise and Steven scuba dived.

Garnet hung out with Pearl under the umbrella as they watched the others have a good time. The two talked about the next mission that they were going on until Steven came running up to them followed by Amber and Luca with something in his hands. It was Turquoise's gem.

"What happened?" Pearl asked.

"It-it was a strange gem, I have never seen her before!" Steven said, panicking.

"She just attacked us, look," Amber said, showing a small cut on her hip.

Pearl frowned, "Where is she?"

Garnet looked at the waves, "There."

The tall red gem sprinted to where the foreign gem was and punched the water around her. She leapt through it, but the attacker wasn't there. Garnet was surrounded by her friends as they looked for the strange gem. Amber saw something moved and Luca threw a rock at it. The gem jumped out of the water and ran quickly to the shore. Pearl threw her spear into the gem's flesh, but she continued to run at the same pace. She looked into the gem's familiar eyes and put her newly formed spear away.

"It's you," Pearl said, unbelievingly.

"It's me?" the gem asked, tilting her head and removing the spear.

"Chrysocolla," Pearl said, as the blue-haired gem dropped the spear on the sand.

"What about it?" Chrysocolla said.

"You were destroyed…" Pearl said, "I watched you."

"Nope, I wasn't destroyed at all," Chrysocolla said, "As you can see, I am not a remnant."

"You aren't, but how?" Pearl asked, shuddering at the thought of remnants.

"I don't remember, Pearl, but I have to get out of here," Chrysocolla said, "That Turquoise, she read into me and it was an invasion of space. I have to get back to Homeworld to see Pink Diamond!"

Pearl looked away, "She was shattered."

"No, she wasn't," Chrysocolla shouted, "She wasn't shattered, she is still safe, I just need to get back to her!"

Pearl felt herself thrown backwards as Chrysocolla put her weapon back into her belly gem. She dissipated the armor on her knees and shoulders and sprinted away from the group. Soon enough, no one could see her and no one made any attempts to go get her. Turquoise came back panicking and felt her chest, sighing.

"That gem, Chrysocolla, she has no memories of after Pink Diamond was shattered," Turquoise said, "Her mind is so empty, I had so much space, but I didn't notice that it hurt her. Maybe that's why she stabbed me, because I dug in too deep."

"It's not your fault, she was just in a rush," Garnet said, "She is very dangerous to us if she ever finds out what happened."

"What should we do?" Amethyst asked, almost worriedly.

"We should leave her alone for a while, it would be pointless to go after her as she could take us all out in a fight," Pearl said, "She was created generously with the perfect amount of material."

Amber and Turquoise nodded, "Nothing else is going to happen out there in the ocean, right?"

"Probably not," Garnet said, "Just go back to doing what you were doing."

Steven sighed; he had so many questions to ask, but decided to go back to playing with Turquoise. As the day progressed and everyone had returned inside for dinner, the topic returned.

"Who was Chrysocolla?" Steven asked innocently.

"She was a gem who was extremely dedicated to Pink Diamond. We don't know exactly what happened to her, but we're sure that it wasn't good," Pearl said, "We fought with her fairly often but she never hated us."

"It just ended up that whatever happened to her after Pink Diamond fell made her into a completely different gem," Garnet said, "She was never the same, easygoing gem again."

Steven frowned, "Is there any way we can help her?"

"No, she has to figure things out on her own," Garnet said, patting Steven's head.

Amber held on to Luca's hand and thought about the gem in question. She really didn't want to encounter her again, especially not when that gem could possibly hurt her lover.


	18. Different Values

**A/N: This chapter was kind of short, but thanks so much for getting this far and continuing to read! -Mali**

Amber looked around the spare house; she was trying to collect everyone's belongings so that they could leave earlier on Sunday morning. Soon enough, all of the belongings were collected and placed into their proper places. The tan gem looked at the clock, it was two o' clock in the morning. Her body had gotten used to sleeping so she felt a bit more tired than usual. She wandered drowsily to her room and crashed on the bed, instantly being wrapped around by Luca's arms. Amber smiled and fell fast asleep in her lover's warm embrace.

In the morning, everyone hopped in the car and headed on home. They stopped along the way at an old restaurant filled with foreign faces. All kinds of foods were served there from Oriental to Middle-Eastern types. Luca and Amber ordered safe, getting rice and soy sauce while the caretaker and Turquoise ordered several strange types of foods. After everyone had finished, they were stuffed. The group decided to go for a walk along the boardwalk. A flock of seagulls flew right into them, trying to see if they had food, but they had eaten it all.

When their stomachs had settled, the group got into the car and finished their drive home. Amber had fallen asleep by the time they had pulled up to the driveway. Luca carried her inside to her bedroom and tucked her in, whispering something about school tomorrow. Turquoise sat down at the kitchen table and talked with the caretaker and Luca for several minutes. After Luca went to bedroom, he heard Turquoise and his uncle chatting about the vacation. He put up the painting of him and Amber on the beach, and looked at his hand. Two dangling earrings lay next to each other in his palm.

He smiled at them and put them in a safe place, hopping into bed with his lover, almost instantly falling asleep. In the morning, Amber yawned and stretched, taking herself to the bathroom. She brushed her hair, making it slightly longer just to see if her lover would notice. Whilst walking to bed, she stared at Luca for a few seconds, deciding against waking him. The tan gem went to the kitchen and started to make a breakfast of Belgian waffles and cinnamon spice. Luca came out to the kitchen and kissed Amber good morning, helping her set the table.

Several minutes later, Turquoise and the caretaker made their way out to the kitchen, sitting themselves down. Turquoise yawned rather loudly and placed her head on the table.

"Feels good to be home doesn't it?" the caretaker said after yawning.

"Yeah," Luca said, "Sure does. Except for the fact that we have school today."

"But school is amazingly educational isn't it?" Turquoise asked, "You learn new things every day."

"It is, but you have to do homework and the day is pretty long," Amber said, "And then we have to go to work until later."

"True," Turquoise said, smiling, "But it's worth it isn't it? Getting a human education?"

Amber and Luca nodded and began to serve breakfast. When they sat down to eat, Turquoise had been almost finished. The light blue gem gave the rest of her food to the caretaker and stood up, running to the barn. After Luca and Amber had finished their food, they went outside to check on Turquoise. She was sitting on the bench, manufacturing something small.

"What are you working on?" Amber asked, placing her hand on Turquoise's shoulder.

"It's a destabilizer," Turquoise said, "I want to be able to defeat Chrysocolla if she ever comes our way again."

"You mean we can't beat her the fair way?" Amber asked.

"She is too strong for all of us to take, she was only able to be defeated by a few gems, Pearl, Garnet, Azurite, and human bullets," Turquoise said, "Destabilizing is about the best we can do right now."

"Okay," Amber nodded slowly, "Well, we have to get to school."

"Bye! Have a great day you two!" Turquoise called out as Amber and Luca left the barn.

Amber grabbed Luca's hand and the two walked fast paced to school. The second they entered the gate, Amber was tackled by Rita.

"Oh my gosh! I missed you so much!" Rita said, hugging her best friend, "Oh. It's you, you treated her nicely on your vacation, didn't you Luca?"

"Yeah," Luca nodded as he watched his lover hugging their good friend.

The three continued to walk to class, finishing the school day with a relaxing schedule. After school, Amber, Luca and Rita walked back to Luca's house. Luca had invited Rita over for dinner as he had the day off from work. Amber made beef stew and poured tall glasses of orange crème soda. After she had dished out the meals, Amber sat down in between Rita and Luca.

The caretaker took a taste of the savory stew and smiled. He thought it was good along with everyone else so Amber went ahead and tasted her stew.

"It actually turned out pretty good," Amber said.

"Yeah," Rita said, "It's amazing!"

"I'm glad you think so," Amber said, finishing her stew and taking away everyone's now spotless bowls.

Luca put on a movie about dogs as Amber almost sat in his lap. Rita gave him dirty looks from time to time, but whenever Amber would look to her, she would smile. The caretaker and Turquoise went to their room to go to bed, leaving the three to watch the high definition movie. Amber soon fell asleep on Luca's shoulder, leaving her lover and Rita to stare at each other awkwardly.

"Are you really serious about her? Because she is serious about you," Rita whispered to Luca.

"I am," Luca said, continuing to look at Rita.

"Then, you have my permission to be with my best friend in the whole entire universe," Rita said, smiling, "Doesn't mean that I won't kill you if you hurt her."

"Okay," Luca said, stroking Amber's orange hair, "Well, I am going to put her to bed."

"Alright, I am going home," Rita said, "Good night Luca."

Luca turned off the TV and picked up Amber, being careful not to disturb her. He placed her under the covers and turned off the light, hopping into bed with her.

In the morning, Amber walked to the kitchen to make breakfast. She carefully stirred the eggs into the rice as they steam cooked. Little by little, the people of the house came to check on what was going on. They sat at the table and tasted their food. Something was off about it, but no one could quite put their finger on it. Amber tasted it and cringed, muttering something about raw egg. She took the dishes away and threw them in the garbage, dumping the bowls in the sink. The tan gem then made several omelets for everyone. She succeeded this time and her family had big smiles of satisfaction.

Once everyone had finished, Amber and Luca headed off to school to spend a long, boring day there. Afterwards, the two went to work for several hours, returning home to Turquoise making dinner. The light blue gem made spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread as a side. Amber hugged her and taste tested the pasta, smiling at her friend.

"It's good," Amber said, "I can't wait till dinner!"

"Me either," Luca said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Hey Amber?" Turquoise asked after several moments of silence.

"Yeah?" Amber replied, sitting down next to Luca.

"We may need the destabilizer even if Chrysocolla doesn't come by. It can be used for almost any gem," Turquoise said, frowning.

"I know," Amber said, "I just don't like the idea of splitting a gem apart."

"True," Turquoise said, "But sometimes, you just have to do it."

The light blue gem served the food and called the caretaker from the couch to come to the dinner table. After everyone had eaten, Turquoise went out to the barn, not to be seen for the rest of the night.

Amber and Luca laid down in bed and talked for hours on end. They talked about what they wanted to be after they finished high school, where they wanted to go and live and so many time consuming things. Amber kissed Luca on the cheek after her fell asleep and put her head on her pillow to look up at the ceiling. Did she really want to live forever? Did she want to eventually leave her lover when he got to old to exist? Did she want to experience any of these bad emotions? No, she never wanted to leave anyone she loved behind. She wanted him to stay with her forever even though she knew he would never be able to. Amber said to herself quietly that she would enjoy as much of Luca as she could for as long as she could, closing her eyes.


	19. True Love

"I can't believe we only met two years ago, Amber," Luca said, holding his lover's hand.

"Me either!" Amber responded, "We have come so far, haven't we, Luca?"

"Yeah," Luca smiled.

"We are already graduating high school! Did you want to go to Prom with me?" Amber asked, almost abruptly after the two shared a kiss.

"Of course!" Luca said, picking up Amber and spinning her around, "What color scheme did you want to go with?"

"How about teal?" Amber responded with a smile.

"Sounds good," Luca said, setting Amber down on the bench.

The two chatted for a few minutes more on the school bench and decided to go to class before they were late. School was fairly easy as they were seniors on the brink of graduation. People were applying to colleges, trying to improve their grades, and getting ready to say goodbye to all of their friends in lower grade levels. Amber and Luca were planning on going to a four-year college in engineering and mechanics. The two wanted to stick together and buy a house of their own.

After school, Rita and Amber met up. They were going to go to the mall for a bit while Luca went to work. Rita showed Amber a new store that had been started up. It had bright new lights and most importantly, rings. Amber stared at the prices; they were fairly nice for such quality rings.

"See for guys, you don't want a big flashy ring, you want a simple one," Rita said informatively, "If you really want a stone, don't get a big one, get it embedded in the ring. But you don't have to buy one today, you can wait until later."

"Okay," Amber said, almost in a trance at the amount of rings that were there, "But I think I see something I like."

The tan gem picked out the ring in question and the jeweler brought it out of its small enclosure. Amber liked the sapphire in the center of the ring, it didn't protrude out of it like the other rings, but it was still pretty. The band itself was a light silver with a tiny engraving that said, _Yours forever_.

"I'll take it," Amber said definitively.

"That will be one-hundred and thirteen dollars, miss," the jeweler said, asking for her credit card.

Amber passed it over and did a little jig and Rita gave her a hug. The ring and credit card were handed to the tan gem, her eyes twinkling.

"Thanks!" she said to the jeweler, gaining a smile from the man as he nodded.

"Wow," Rita said after a while, "You are going to have to hide it aren't you?"

"Yeah," Amber said giddily, "I am going to give it to him at Prom!"

"Are you now?" Rita asked, grinning, "That's going to be perfect!"

"I hope so!" Amber said gleefully.

The two girls decided to call it a day after spending another hour at the mall. Amber walked Rita home and the tan gem made her way to Luca's work. He smiled when he saw her and walked over to Amber. The two embraced and when they broke apart, Luca invited Amber to check something out.

"Lift up the hood," Luca said, smiling.

Amber did so, a small blue box lay all by its lonesome. She opened it, excitedly and Luca smiled at her reaction.

"They are earrings, a gift to you before Prom," Luca said, "Only problem is, you don't have any piercings."

"Piercings?" Amber asked, hugging her lover, "Where do I get them?"

"You can get them in the mall," Luca smiled, "I thought you would make them look prettier than they already are."

"Can we go now?" Amber asked, giving her lover the puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, my shift ends soon anyway," Luca said, kissing his lover on the forehead.

Amber waited in the lobby until Luca came out the swinging door and said farewell to his manager. The two grabbed each other's hands and travelled to the mall, Amber's second time today was definitely going to be as fun as the first.

They found a piercing saloon and Amber sat down in a chair next to Luca, waiting to be appointed. When her name was called, the tan gem walked down to a station with her lover and sat down with a smile on her face.

"This might sting for a little, but it will be good forever," the assistant said, "You might want to hold on to your boyfriend's arm while I do this."

"Okay," Amber said, grabbing on to Luca's arm, unknowing of how much needles could hurt.

In two short seconds, both of Amber's ears were pierced, a little shriek coming out of her mouth. Burning hot pain moved through her body as her existence tried to fight the two small needles in her ear lobes.

"Does it still hurt?" Luca asked his lover.

"Yeah," Amber responded, "My body doesn't like this, but I am sure it will get used to it."

"You don't seem to have normal anatomy," the assistant said with a smile, "You can just put in the new earrings right now since you probably won't develop any infection."

"Okay," Amber said, her eyes watering, "Luca can you please put them in?"

"Sure," Luca said, grabbing the golden earrings and placing them where the blue holes were.

Amber winced and squeezed her knees, but when she saw herself in the mirror, she smiled, "Thank you Luca!"

She hugged him as hard as she could and after he paid the store, the two walked home in the dark. The stars twinkled for the two as the cool night helped Amber's ears feel better. When they got home, Luca made chicken noodle soup for him and Amber as Turquoise and the caretaker had already gone to bed. They slurped up their soup and within minutes put their dishes away. Amber stared at Luca and couldn't help wanting to make out with him.

And they did so, continuing for a few minutes. The two decided to go to bed as they had a busy school day tomorrow. Luca held Amber in her sweet sleep, trying to fall asleep too. However, all he had were nightmares about Amber giving birth and disappearing into a child. He tossed and turned, crying out until he awoke to Amber on top of him.

"Luca wake up! It's just a dream, everything is okay," Amber cried out.

"Amber, please don't disappear," Luca said, a tear rolling itself out of his eye.

"I won't, I promise," Amber said, hugging her lover, "You need to go back to sleep and relax, okay?"

"Yeah," Luca said, closing his eyes, "I love you Amber."

"I love you too," Amber said, rolling off of Luca.

The two fell asleep together, not waking up until the morning. Luca was the first awake, making breakfast for his lover. He made an omelet of chives and cheese, splitting it with Amber who was still in bed.

"Breakfast in bed!" Luca smiled.

"Hooray!" Amber said, taking the first bite as Luca intently watched her, "It's delicious!"

"I'm glad you think that it's delicious," Luca smiled, eating some of his omelet.

After the two had finished up, they got ready for school. The rest of the school days were easy and fast paced. Soon enough, Prom poked its head out and it was time to dress up.

Amber packed her ring away in her purse and brushed out her hair. She had made it grow slightly longer for a different look. Luca prepared his loose white dress shirt and teal tie while Amber formed a long light blue dress. She twirled into Luca's arms and looked up to his deep brown eyes.

"Are you ready?" she asked, with a sweet smile.

"Yeah," Luca said, twirling Amber around.

Amber hopped into Luca's car and waved goodbye to the caretaker and Turquoise. They drove off to where the Prom was held, the sun beginning to set as they walked in through the doors. The music played slowly as Amber and Luca slow danced. Dainty food was set out on several tables, sweets, drinks, and snacks drawing attention to themselves. Amber picked out some water and crackers with cheese, handing some to Luca to try. The two smiled at the taste of the snack and went back to dancing.

Several hours passed and Prom was over, Luca and Amber being the last two left. They walked out of the doors and drove home, knowing that in a couple of days, their high school life would be over and that college life would begin. At home, Luca and Amber crawled into bed, almost instantly falling asleep. In the morning, Amber realized that she had forgotten to give Luca his Promise Ring. She hopped out of bed and made a breakfast of pancakes and smoothie.

The tan gem waited until Luca sat at the table. As the two were eating their breakfast, Amber pulled out the box.

"Will you promise to marry me-" Amber and Luca said at the same time, placing their boxes down.

"Wow," Luca said, picking up the box Amber gave him.

"What a coincidence," Amber chuckled; opening up the box Luca gave her, "It's beautiful."

"This is amazing," Luca said, opening up his box.

Amber put on her ring and flashed it to Luca, "Holy human mackerel, we are getting married!"

"Soon," Luca said, "After college so that we can have money and time to celebrate."

"Yeah," Amber said, kissing her lover on the cheek.

Their lips joined for the second kiss, holding their hands together so that they could see both of the rings together. The future could be promising, but it could also be daunting.


	20. Finale

"I do," Amber said, to her lover as beautiful flowers were showered over the two.

Cheers echoed around the field as Amber was hoisted by Luca and smooched. Luca set his lover down on the green grass and the two looked to the bright blue lake. Amber grabbed Steven's hand and smiled to the young man.

"Thanks for being our best man," the tan gem said, getting a squeeze back.

"My pleasure," Steven said, grinning.

The curly haired guy was no longer short, being twenty-two and taller than Amber. Connie was in the audience sitting with the Crystal Gems. She looked to Pearl, who smiled back. Pearl, Connie, and Turquoise helped with decorating, as they were practically obsessed with making it look perfect. Steven walked over to Connie and they told Amethyst to cue the music. Amber grabbed Luca's hands and started to dance with him, the rest of the audience looked to each other, and decided to follow the lead.

"I can't believe that you are already twenty-four," Amber said, running her tan hand along Luca's cheek.

"Me either," Luca said, "We already have a house, have finished college, what's left to do?"

"Have kids?" Amber said, winking as she twirled.

"Well," Luca said, "We can try, but I just don't want to lose you."

"You are much too kind, Luca," Amber said, returning to her lover with a bounce in her step.

Luca dipped his lover and the dance was finished. The two embraced as people finished and started to clap.

Amber grabbed the bouquet while Connie, Azurite, Vexus, Peridot, Lapis, and a girl with long brown hair assembled, waiting for the cue. She turned around and tossed the bouquet into the air to the bridesmaids. Connie caught it effortlessly and jumped for joy, running to Steven. Amber giggled to herself and turned to Luca, smiling. The after wedding party lasted until late at night. Pearl ended up driving her party back to their hotel, as they were mostly inebriated from the vast amount of drinks.

"Gosh Luca," Amber said as the two left the party for home, "I guess we can try tonight."

"Okay," Luca smiled, holding his lover's hand.

* * *

Three Months Later…

"Wow," Rita said, "You are so big!"

"I know!" Amber said, "And it's only been two months."

"Maybe you are having twins," Rita smiled.

"Ouch," Amber said, sinking to her knees, "My stomach is being difficult."

"Amber, your gem!" Rita said, "It's glowing."

"I'm good," Amber said, picking herself up off the ground, "I've been getting these pains for a while now."

"Have you been to a doctor yet?" Rita asked with concern in her eyes.

"Yeah," Amber said, "Okay, the pain is gone."

"Alright," Rita said, still slightly worried as she and Amber walked around the mall.

Months passed and with each one, Amber began to feel slightly weaker. Luca worried awake late at night as his lover tossed and turned under the covers.

"You don't have to carry the baby," Luca said, "You might be in serious danger."

"I want to," Amber said with a wide smile, "It's worth it."

In the last month, Amber slept peacefully as she was so tired during the day. She loved Luca and went for walks with him and Rita in the evening. Eventually, the tan gem collapsed while making dinner.

Luca shook her, "Amber, wake up, you can't disappear."

She was unresponsive as an ambulance rushed to their house. Amber was loaded up with Luca.

"We are going to try and get the baby out, but isn't she too big for just one?" the nurse asked as Amber was wheeled into a room.

"Okay," Luca said stressfully, "She is going to make it right?"

"We will do all that we can," the nurse said.

Amber came to, "What's happening, where am I?"

"You are in the hospital, you are going to be just fine," Luca said, embracing his lover.

"Push please," the nurse said.

"Right," Amber said, groaning in pain.

Her gem glowed as tears rushed down her cheeks. She closed her eyes after telling Luca that she loved him and shoved with the last of her effort.

"You have a boy and a girl," the nurse said to Luca.

"Wow, Amber you have to look at our children," Luca said, "We had twins!"

Amber's gem stopped glowing and she opened her eyes, "They are beautiful!"

Her gem cracked as her body relaxed, the tenseness dissipating. She held her children in her arms and tears began to fall out of her eyes.

"See? I didn't disappear," Amber smiled.

"Yeah," Luca said with a happy smile, "We're parents."

"I know!" Amber said, "I am going to take a nap now, okay?"

"Alright," Luca said, cradling his children after kissing Amber's forehead.

"She is a strong gem," the nurse said, "Usually they don't make it through."

Luca looked at her weird, "Okay."

"Sorry, I am known for being a morbid person," the nurse said.

"That's fine," Luca said, "I'm just glad that she made it out."

Amber slept for a few days, recovering her strength. The children were named Willa and Daniel. Willa had blond hair that resembled Luca's while Daniel had orange hair. When Amber awoke, she saw Willa's blue eyes and Daniel's brown eyes. She smiled and held her children in her arms.

"Look at what we made," Amber said, looking into Luca's chocolate brown eyes.

"I know, they're beautiful," Luca smiled.

"I love you," Amber said to her lover.

"I love you too," Luca replied, running his hand through Amber's deep orange hair, "Oh. Your gem is cracked."

"It is?" Amber said, groggily looking to her stomach, "Oh gosh."

"Steven is far away, we don't have anyone who can heal you immediately," Luca frowned, "What are we going to do?"

"We can wait," Amber said with a wide smile, "We just have to be extra careful."

"I guess," Luca said, messing with his stubble, "Oh well."

The two kissed and Amber went home the next day with instructions on how to feed the children with formula. Luca had to go back to work, so he said goodbye and went out. Amber sat on the blue couch upstairs with her children and nursed them. Willa was definitely more aggressive than Daniel with things like playing and the bottles. Steven healed Amber when he and Connie came down to visit after a few months of the kids being alive.

As the couple walked through the door, they were greeted by Amber holding both of her children. Steven's eyes turned to stars as Willa grabbed his finger and started teething. Daniel cried the instant Connie held him, but soon enough, he was used to her and fell asleep.

"You guys can stay here for a couple nights if you want," Amber said, smiling.

"Alright," Steven said, adjusting his grip on Willa, "You are so cute! You look just like your daddy don't you?"

"She does," Amber said while pouring some fresh lemonade.

Connie sat at the kitchen table and took a sip of the drink, "This is delicious, Amber."  
"Thanks," Amber said, sitting next to her and Daniel.

"How did you uh survive?" Steven asked, sitting next to Connie.

"I don't really know how," Amber said, "It hurt a lot but I guess that's normal for childbirth. However, my gem is still good, cracked but good. I didn't disappear, but I'm sorry about your mom."

"That's okay," Steven said wistfully, "Your children are normal and are going to have amazing lives."

Amber nodded and looked to the front door as she heard it open, "Guess who's back?"

"Hey honey, Steven and Connie just got here!" Amber said, standing up and walking to the door to smooch her lover.

"Awesome," Luca said, "Has Steven healed you yet?"  
Amber nudged Luca, "They just got here! Don't worry."

"Okay," Luca nodded.

Amber walked to the table and sat back down, "Guess I better heal you."

Steven shuffled Willa to his other arm and licked his hand, placing it on Amber's gem. It glowed for several seconds, healing itself up, her gem now whole.

"Thanks so much!" Amber said, smiling and feeling her smooth gem.

"Sure," Steven said, "Sorry we couldn't get here sooner."

"That's alright, we're just glad you could get out here," Amber said, grabbing Steven's hand.

That night, Luca and Amber went to bed, snuggling with Willa and Daniel. They thought about the wonderful future that they were going to have, watching their children grow up, going to college and becoming wonderful people. The two were happy and fulfilled, together and forever.

THE END

Thanks so much everyone! It was so fun working with you all! -Mali


End file.
